2016 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 166
166
Robert Griffing (b. 1940)
How Could Things Get Any Worse? (2003)
oil on canvas
36 × 50 inches
signed and dated lower right
According to the artist, “When white settlers began to migrate into the Ohio Country, the Ohio River became a primary artery for travel. Since the Ohio was wider and generally more navigable than most eastern rivers, canoes and bateaux were soon replaced by larger and more stable flatboats. Here a flatboat has become stuck on a sandbar in the river. As they struggle to get free, the crew notices a party of mounted warriors observing from the riverbank. Inevitably, they wonder if the Indians will be friendly or hostile.”
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, MT
LITERATURE
Tim J. Todish, The Narrative Art of Robert Griffing, Volume II (Gibsonia, PA: Paramount Press Inc., 2007), pages 160- 161, illustrated