2023 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 279
279
Howard Terpning (b. 1927)
Searching the Mountains (1975)
oil on canvas
25 × 35 inches
35 × 45 × 2.5 inches (framed)
signed and dated lower right
VERSO
Signed and titled
According to art historian Walt Reed, “When the fur trade on the Upper Missouri and the Rocky Mountain areas opened up, there were a number of companies in the field ready to compete for the rich beaver trade. These companies, unwilling to depend solely on the Indians for gathering furs, hired trappers and hunters who worked directly in the field and were under the jurisdiction of the company. Also lured by the trade were small groups of free trappers who combined for mutual protection or hunted on their own. These independent groups were free to sell to the company paying the highest prices, and were also free to hunt and trap where they chose.”