2015 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 8417 / 290  •  View Catalog  •   • 

84
Henry Farny (1847 – 1916)
Distant Village (1890)
gouache on paper
10 × 7 inches
signed and dated lower right

Verso
Exhibition labels

According to Susan Labry Meyn, “By the time Henry Farny made his first trip west in 1881, the Indian peoples of the entire great Plains region, from Texas into Canada, were already greatly impoverished, culturally as well as economically. These Native Americans had endured nearly a century of pernicious federal policy and more than forty years of punishing war with the U.S. military. The government’s objective was to either civilize or exterminate these proud and brave warriors.

“The Indian story that Farny usually chose to tell reflected the lifeways of these Indians during the glorious earlier days of traditional Plains life, when they had charged across the grasslands hunting buffalo prior to their confinement on remote reservations. When he visited isolated western reservations, Farny witnessed the Indians’ grievous suffering—the diseases brought on by semi-starvation and the psychological pain of a defeated people. Throughout his life Farny knew about and was sympathetic to the Indians’ cause, yet his art rarely reflected their tragic situation.”

PROVENANCE
[Closson’s Art Gallery, Cincinnati, OH]
Michael Clauder, Cincinnati, OH
Oklahoma Publishing Company, Oklahoma City, OK
Property from a Private Collection

EXHIBITED
Montana 1880-1910 with Henry Farny and His Subjects, Trigg-Russell Foundation, Great Falls, MT, 1965
Henry F. Farny, Indian Hill Historical Museum, Cincinnati, OH, 1975
The Realistic Expressions of Henry Farny: A Retrospective, The Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame, IN, May 3 - July 11, 1981
The National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, OK

LITERATURE
Exhibition catalog, Montana 1880-1910 with Henry Farny and His Subjects (Great Falls, MT: Trigg-Russell Foundation, 1965), illustrated
Exhibition catalog, Henry F. Farny (Cincinnati, OH: Indian Hill Historical Museum, 1975), number 15, illustrated halftone
Denny Carter, Henry Farny (New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1978), page 56, illustrated halftone
Exhibition catalog, Marlou J. Quintana, The Realistic Expressions of Henry Farny: A Retrospective (Santa Fe, NM: Gerald Peters Gallery, 1981), page 49, illustrated

84

Henry Farny

1847 – 1916

Distant Village (1890)
gouache on paper
10 × 7 inches
signed and dated lower right
Sold at Auction: $321,750
Condition ReportViewed through glass, paper appears in excellent condition with no signs of damage or fading.

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.