48

VERSO (painting)
Label, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Label, Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, New York
Label, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

VERSO (study)
Label, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Label, Sotheby’s, New York, New York

The New Rug will be included in the E. I. Couse Catalogue Raisonné.

The New Rug is housed in its original frame designed by Couse.

Couse historian Virginia Couse Leavitt writes, “In The New Rug, Antonio Lujan of Taos Pueblo proudly displays a neatly folded Navajo blanket in front of him. His steady gaze compels the viewer to consider the intrinsic beauty of the Native craft he holds in his hands. Couse was himself an ardent admirer of Native American crafts.”

Originally painted as part of a campaign for the Beacon Manufacturing Company in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Leavitt stated, “Several of the paintings in the Beacon blanket series rank among the artist’s best work. His success in raising a commercial concept to the status of fine art illustrates his creative flexibility under that kind of pressure. An outstanding example is found in The New Rug, the second painting purchased by Beacon Manufacturing.”

PROVENANCE
Beacon Manufacturing Company, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1917
Mr. & Mrs. Charles D. Owen, Jr., New Canaan, Connecticut
M. Knoedler Galleries, New York, New York
Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, New York, 1973
Morrie Zinman Collection, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Los Angeles Athletic Club, Los Angeles, California, 1982
Sotheby’s, New York, New York, 1995
Joffa Collection, Jackson, Wyoming

EXHIBITED
Cowboys, Indians, Trappers and Traders, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 1973
Native Faces: Indian Cultures in American Art, Southwest Museum of the American Indian, Los Angeles, California, 1984
E. I. Couse: Image Maker for America, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1991-92

LITERATURE
Virginia Couse Leavitt, E. I. Couse: An Image Maker for America, The Albuquerque Museum, 1991, pp. 180-81, illustrated
Virginia Couse Leavitt, Eanger Irving Couse: The Life and Times of an American Artist, 1866–1936, University of Oklahoma Press, 2019, pp. 278, 280
Patricia Trenton, Native Faces: Indian Cultures in American Art, Southwest Museum of the American Indian, 1984, cover, pp. 78-94, illustrated

Condition ReportThe New Rug:
Surface condition is excellent. Canvas is lined. Scattered inpainting in background. Two vertical lines of inpainting, at bottom of blanket.

The New Rug (study):
Surface condition is excellent. No signs of restoration.

Important Notice: Statements of condition are provided as a service to potential bidders; such statements are educated opinions and should not be regarded as facts. The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction has no responsibility for any errors or omissions.