Firelight Drummer is included in the Eanger Irving Couse Catalogue Raisonné as number 698. Leandro Bernal of Taos Pueblo posed for a number of Couse’s major paintings and he was the model used in this painting.

Surveying the artist’s development, Couse historian Virginia Couse Leavitt observed, “Couse was primarily a figure painter, well trained in the academic tradition at the National Academy of Design in New York and then at the Académie Julian in Paris. Consistently, throughout his career, he was interested in painting the qualities of light, which in his case led to an interest in Tonalism. After arriving in New Mexico, he adapted this style of painting, which relied on a color scheme based on one predominant hue, to his brilliant firelights and moonlights. Tonalism also involved a mood of quietism, which was ideal for Couse’s interest in the spiritual qualities of Native American life.

“Couse was particularly fond of tonal painting, in which he based his composition either on the cool blues of moonlight or the warm tones of firelight.”

PROVENANCE
The artist
Lois M. Gardner, Piedmont, California, 1932
Present owner, by descent

LITERATURE
Antiques Roadshow, Public Broadcasting Service, Season 19, Episode 15, 2015

Additional Resources

• Absentee & Phone Bid Form
• Eanger Irving Couse’s Past Results
• View Condition Report

Condition ReportSurface is in excellent condition. No signs of restoration.

Important Notice: Statements of condition are provided as a service to potential bidders and reflect educated opinions, not facts. All painting frames are sold “as is.” The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions.