2023 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 20
Noted art historian Rick Stewart, “Before Sharp established himself as a painter in Taos, he achieved a national reputation as a painter of the Plains Indians. In 1899, he traveled to Montana, outfitted a wagon as a studio which he nicknamed the ‘Prairie Dog,’ and painted portraits and genre scenes of the Indians, particularly the Sioux and Crow, who had figured in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Sharp’s paintings were purchased by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt directed the Indian Commission to erect a cabin as a studio for the artist which was located south of the confluence of the two Bighorn rivers. From 1901 to 1916, Sharp spent his winters among the Indians, studying every aspect of their appearance, traditions, and beliefs.”
PROVENANCE
The artist
Clara Wright Dalton, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1924
Present owner, by descent