VERSO
Label, J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, New York

The Duck Hunter is included in the Eanger Irving Couse Catalogue Raisonné as number 468. One of Couse’s favorite models, Jerry Mirabal – whose Indian name was Tuena (Elkfoot) – served as the subject of this painting.

Situating Couse among his contemporaries, Virginia Couse Leavitt observed, “‘No one ever tried to paint the Indian in Couse’s way before. No one has ever taken him quite so seriously from a purely artistic standpoint.’ This quotation from the New York Sun captures the contemporary perception of Couse’s Indian paintings in the early years of the twentieth century. Unlike George Catlin and Karl Bodmer, who more than a half-century earlier had made ethnographic records of Indians, or more recent artists like Frederic Remington and Charles Schreyvogel, whose paintings were illustrations of historic or imagined events, Couse approached his canvas foremost as a work of art in which formal considerations were primary. These were the formal considerations he had been taught as an academic painter: good drawing, classical composition, fidelity to nature – areas in which he excelled and ideals to which he remained faithful throughout his career.”

PROVENANCE
Henry Schultheis Gallery, New York, New York
Howard Young Galleries, St. Louis, Missouri
Overland Trail Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona
Private collection, St. Louis, Missouri
Selkirk Galleries Auction, St. Louis, Missouri, 1993
Private collection, California

Additional Resources

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

Condition ReportSurface is in good condition. Canvas is lined. Faint bar marks in the upper- and lower-left corners. Spots of inpainting on left side, at the edge of the frame.

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.