Joseph Henry Sharp
Encyclopedia
Joseph Henry Sharp was an American painter and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists
, of which he is considered the "Spiritual Father". Sharp was one of the earliest European-American artists to visit Taos, New Mexico
, which he saw in 1893 with John Hauser
when he visited in 1893. He painted American Indian
portraits and cultural life, as well as Western landscapes. President Theodore Roosevelt
commissioned him to paint the portraits of 200 Native American warriors who survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn
. While working on this project, Sharp lived on land of the Crow Agency, Montana
, where he built Absarokee Hut in 1905. Boosted by his sale of 80 paintings to Phoebe Hearst, Sharp quit teaching and began to paint full time.
In 1909 he bought a former chapel in Taos to use as a studio, near the house of the artist E. Irving Couse
. In 1912 he and his wife moved to the area full-time. He built a house with studio near the chapel. Both artists' homes and studios are part of the Couse
/Sharp Historic Site, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
on September 27, 1859 to Irish
immigrant parents. His father was a merchant
by trade. From childhood, Sharp was fascinated with anything to do with American Indians. As a boy, Sharp nearly drowned in a swimming accident. He was pulled from the water and carried to his home by friends who thought he was dead. His mother resuscitated him, but the incident permanently damaged his hearing, and he gradually became totally deaf. As a result, he had to learn to read lips and had to carry a writing pad with him.
Sharp's father died when he was twelve years old. Soon after, the boy began working in a nail factory to help support his family. By age 14, his hearing loss made continued schooling impossible. He quit school and moved to Cincinnati
, where he lived with an aunt and worked to support himself and send money to his mother. He studied briefly at the McMicken School of Design, then enrolled at the Cincinnati Art Academy.
In 1881, Sharp traveled to Europe, where he studied for a year at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium
. He briefly returned to the United States and in 1883 made the first of his journeys to the American West, visiting the states of New Mexico
, Arizona
, California
and Wyoming
, where he began sketching members of American Indian
tribes. In 1885 he traveled to Europe with John Hauser
, another Cincinnati artist, who studied with him at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich
. Sharp also studied at the Académie Julian
in Paris
, and in the 1890s with Frank Duveneck
in Italy.
In 1893, he made his second trip to the American West in the company of fellow Cincinnati artist John Hauser
, who had studied in Europe with him. They visited Taos, New Mexico
for the first time, Sharp on a commission from Harper's Weekly
to illustrate Indian life at the Taos Pueblo
. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains
and the local Indian culture sparked his enthusiasm, which he shared with colleagues Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips at Académie Julian
the next year.
Sharp continued to teach in Cincinnati until 1902. During this period he also spent time in Montana
, where he camped at the battlefield of Little Big Horn
. There he painted scenes of native life and portraits of members of the Plains tribes, including the Crow
, Sioux
, and Nez Perce. In 1900, these portraits were exhibited in Washington, D.C.
The Smithsonian Institution
bought eleven of the portraits.
Sharp came to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt
, who took an interest in him and commissioned him to paint portraits of 200 Native American warriors who had survived the Battle of the Little Big Horn. To be able to stay in the area, Sharp apparently made a private arrangement with Samuel Reynolds, the US Indian Commission agent of the Crow Agency, Montana
, and gained permission to build a log cabin on government land. It was near the confluence of two rivers. Essentially the Crow Agency owned the cabin, which Sharp and his wife Addie built in 1905 with the help of local prison labor, arranged for and mostly supervised by Reynolds.
Sharp called the cabin Absarokee Hut. He designed it as a one-room cabin, with a lean-to
containing a bedroom and kitchen. The ridgepole of the cabin was high enough (16.5 ft.) to allow a balcony at one end, where he hung animal hides and Indian blankets for privacy, to make the space behind it usable as a guest bedroom. The Sharps furnished the cabin in an Arts and Crafts
style and decorated it with their collection of Indian artifacts, which included Navajo rug
s, a buffalo
robe, shields, pottery, and baskets. The cabin was featured in The Craftsman
magazine. In an unusual arrangement, Sharp lived and worked there rent-free, and finally was permitted to buy the cabin in 1922.
Phoebe Hearst
(mother of William Randolph Hearst
) bought 80 of Sharp's paintings of Native Americans. This enabled him to quit teaching, move into Absarokee Hut with Addie, and devote himself to painting. Hearst commissioned an additional 75 portraits to include members of every major Great Plains
tribe. (Hearst's entire collection of 155 of Sharp's paintings was eventually donated to the University of California, Berkeley
.)
Sharp continued to spend some summers in New Mexico
, and in 1909 he purchased a former Penitente
chapel in Taos for use as a studio. It was near the home of the artist E. Irving Couse
. The Sharps finally made a permanent move to Taos in 1912, where Addie died in 1913. Responding to the new landscape and light of New Mexico, Sharp began to change some of his techniques. Although he had trained as an academic painter and usually worked in his studio, he adopted plein air painting for the first time. In 1915, along with Couse, Sharp became one of the six founding members of the Taos Society of Artists
, of which he was the most senior and experienced. They worked as a sales cooperative to develop Taos internationally as a recognized artistic community. They continued the Society until 1927.
together with his second wife, Louise. While in Hawaii, Sharp painted only for pleasure. At the request of a local gallery owner, Sharp agreed to show some of his work. The Sharps wintered in Hawaii for the next eight years, except for 1931 and 1933, when they wintered in Mexico and the Orient respectively.
(Tulsa, Oklahoma
) featured a retrospective of Sharp's work in 1949. The Museum currently curates the largest collection of Sharp's work worldwide.
on August 29, 1953. Over his lifetime, Sharp had produced around 10,500 works of art, including oil paintings, etchings, monotypes, pastels, and watercolors. Of these works, fully 7,800 are of Native American
subjects, including 3,200 portraits. He was a historian of the West as well as a painter, and helped to preserve the record of a way of life that was changing.
and the New Mexico Register of Cultural Properties.
Paintings
Taos Society of Artists
The Taos Society of Artists was an organization of visual arts founded in Taos, New Mexico in 1915; it disbanded in 1927. The Society was essentially a commercial cooperative, as opposed to a stylistic collective, and its foundation contributed to the development of the tiny Taos art colony into...
, of which he is considered the "Spiritual Father". Sharp was one of the earliest European-American artists to visit Taos, New Mexico
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
, which he saw in 1893 with John Hauser
John Hauser
John Hauser was an American painter best known for his portraits of American Indians/Native Americans and depictions of various aspects of Indian life. He had academic training at art schools in Europe, including the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich...
when he visited in 1893. He painted American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
portraits and cultural life, as well as Western landscapes. President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
commissioned him to paint the portraits of 200 Native American warriors who survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army...
. While working on this project, Sharp lived on land of the Crow Agency, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, where he built Absarokee Hut in 1905. Boosted by his sale of 80 paintings to Phoebe Hearst, Sharp quit teaching and began to paint full time.
In 1909 he bought a former chapel in Taos to use as a studio, near the house of the artist E. Irving Couse
E. Irving Couse
Eanger Irving Couse was an American artist and a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico, and the American Southwest...
. In 1912 he and his wife moved to the area full-time. He built a house with studio near the chapel. Both artists' homes and studios are part of the Couse
Couse
Couse is a surname, and may refer to:* Dave Couse, Irish singer and songwriter* E. Irving Couse , American artist* Kenton Couse , British architect...
/Sharp Historic Site, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Early life and education
Sharp was born in Bridgeport, OhioBridgeport, Ohio
Bridgeport is a village in Belmont County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,831 at the 2010 census...
on September 27, 1859 to Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrant parents. His father was a merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
by trade. From childhood, Sharp was fascinated with anything to do with American Indians. As a boy, Sharp nearly drowned in a swimming accident. He was pulled from the water and carried to his home by friends who thought he was dead. His mother resuscitated him, but the incident permanently damaged his hearing, and he gradually became totally deaf. As a result, he had to learn to read lips and had to carry a writing pad with him.
Sharp's father died when he was twelve years old. Soon after, the boy began working in a nail factory to help support his family. By age 14, his hearing loss made continued schooling impossible. He quit school and moved to Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, where he lived with an aunt and worked to support himself and send money to his mother. He studied briefly at the McMicken School of Design, then enrolled at the Cincinnati Art Academy.
In 1881, Sharp traveled to Europe, where he studied for a year at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. He briefly returned to the United States and in 1883 made the first of his journeys to the American West, visiting the states of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, where he began sketching members of American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes. In 1885 he traveled to Europe with John Hauser
John Hauser
John Hauser was an American painter best known for his portraits of American Indians/Native Americans and depictions of various aspects of Indian life. He had academic training at art schools in Europe, including the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich...
, another Cincinnati artist, who studied with him at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. Sharp also studied at the Académie Julian
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and in the 1890s with Frank Duveneck
Frank Duveneck
Frank Duveneck was an American figure and portrait painter.-Youth:Duveneck was born in Covington, Kentucky, the son of German immigrant Bernard Decker. Decker died when Frank was only a year old and his widow remarried Joseph Duveneck...
in Italy.
Artistic career
Sharp returned to Cincinnati in 1892, where he married Addie and taught at the Cincinnati Art Academy. During this period, he painted portraits of local society members.In 1893, he made his second trip to the American West in the company of fellow Cincinnati artist John Hauser
John Hauser
John Hauser was an American painter best known for his portraits of American Indians/Native Americans and depictions of various aspects of Indian life. He had academic training at art schools in Europe, including the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich...
, who had studied in Europe with him. They visited Taos, New Mexico
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
for the first time, Sharp on a commission from Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor...
to illustrate Indian life at the Taos Pueblo
Taos Pueblo
Taos Pueblo is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos speaking Native American tribe of Pueblo people. It is approximately 1000 years old and lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico, USA...
. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States...
and the local Indian culture sparked his enthusiasm, which he shared with colleagues Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips at Académie Julian
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...
the next year.
Sharp continued to teach in Cincinnati until 1902. During this period he also spent time in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, where he camped at the battlefield of Little Big Horn
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army...
. There he painted scenes of native life and portraits of members of the Plains tribes, including the Crow
Crow Nation
The Crow, also called the Absaroka or Apsáalooke, are a Siouan people of Native Americans who historically lived in the Yellowstone River valley, which extends from present-day Wyoming, through Montana and into North Dakota. They now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana and in several...
, Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
, and Nez Perce. In 1900, these portraits were exhibited in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
bought eleven of the portraits.
Sharp came to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, who took an interest in him and commissioned him to paint portraits of 200 Native American warriors who had survived the Battle of the Little Big Horn. To be able to stay in the area, Sharp apparently made a private arrangement with Samuel Reynolds, the US Indian Commission agent of the Crow Agency, Montana
Crow Agency, Montana
Crow Agency is a census-designated place in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little Bighorn National Monument and re-enactment known as Custer's Last Stand...
, and gained permission to build a log cabin on government land. It was near the confluence of two rivers. Essentially the Crow Agency owned the cabin, which Sharp and his wife Addie built in 1905 with the help of local prison labor, arranged for and mostly supervised by Reynolds.
Sharp called the cabin Absarokee Hut. He designed it as a one-room cabin, with a lean-to
Lean-to
A lean-to is a term used to describe a roof with a single slope. The term also applies to a variety of structures that are built using a lean-to roof....
containing a bedroom and kitchen. The ridgepole of the cabin was high enough (16.5 ft.) to allow a balcony at one end, where he hung animal hides and Indian blankets for privacy, to make the space behind it usable as a guest bedroom. The Sharps furnished the cabin in an Arts and Crafts
American Craftsman
The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...
style and decorated it with their collection of Indian artifacts, which included Navajo rug
Navajo rug
Navajo rugs and blankets are textiles produced by Navajo people of the Four Corners area of the United States. Navajo textiles are highly regarded and have been sought after as trade items for over 150 years. Commercial production of handwoven blankets and rugs has been an important element of the...
s, a buffalo
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...
robe, shields, pottery, and baskets. The cabin was featured in The Craftsman
The Craftsman
The Craftsman was a magazine founded by Gustav Stickley in 1901 which carried house designs that created the American Craftsman architectural style....
magazine. In an unusual arrangement, Sharp lived and worked there rent-free, and finally was permitted to buy the cabin in 1922.
Phoebe Hearst
Phoebe Hearst
Phoebe Apperson Hearst was an American philanthropist, feminist and suffragist. She was also the mother of William Randolph Hearst.-Biography:...
(mother of William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
) bought 80 of Sharp's paintings of Native Americans. This enabled him to quit teaching, move into Absarokee Hut with Addie, and devote himself to painting. Hearst commissioned an additional 75 portraits to include members of every major Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
tribe. (Hearst's entire collection of 155 of Sharp's paintings was eventually donated to the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
.)
Sharp continued to spend some summers in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, and in 1909 he purchased a former Penitente
Penitentes (New Mexico)
Los Hermanos de la Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno is a lay confraternity of Roman Catholic men active in Northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.Accounts of the roots of Los...
chapel in Taos for use as a studio. It was near the home of the artist E. Irving Couse
E. Irving Couse
Eanger Irving Couse was an American artist and a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico, and the American Southwest...
. The Sharps finally made a permanent move to Taos in 1912, where Addie died in 1913. Responding to the new landscape and light of New Mexico, Sharp began to change some of his techniques. Although he had trained as an academic painter and usually worked in his studio, he adopted plein air painting for the first time. In 1915, along with Couse, Sharp became one of the six founding members of the Taos Society of Artists
Taos Society of Artists
The Taos Society of Artists was an organization of visual arts founded in Taos, New Mexico in 1915; it disbanded in 1927. The Society was essentially a commercial cooperative, as opposed to a stylistic collective, and its foundation contributed to the development of the tiny Taos art colony into...
, of which he was the most senior and experienced. They worked as a sales cooperative to develop Taos internationally as a recognized artistic community. They continued the Society until 1927.
Winters in Hawaii
Starting in 1930, Sharp vacationed for a number of winters in HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
together with his second wife, Louise. While in Hawaii, Sharp painted only for pleasure. At the request of a local gallery owner, Sharp agreed to show some of his work. The Sharps wintered in Hawaii for the next eight years, except for 1931 and 1933, when they wintered in Mexico and the Orient respectively.
1949 retrospective
The Gilcrease MuseumGilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum is a museum located northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum now houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America...
(Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
) featured a retrospective of Sharp's work in 1949. The Museum currently curates the largest collection of Sharp's work worldwide.
Death and legacy
Sharp closed the studio in Taos when he was 93 years old to travel to California. While he intended to return to Taos the next year, he fell ill and died in Pasadena, CaliforniaPasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
on August 29, 1953. Over his lifetime, Sharp had produced around 10,500 works of art, including oil paintings, etchings, monotypes, pastels, and watercolors. Of these works, fully 7,800 are of Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
subjects, including 3,200 portraits. He was a historian of the West as well as a painter, and helped to preserve the record of a way of life that was changing.
Studio
Sharp built a two-story house with studio near the chapel. His historic studios in Taos are maintained as part of The Couse/Sharp Historic Site at 146 Kit Carson Road by The Couse Foundation, which offers scheduled and private tours. It is listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
and the New Mexico Register of Cultural Properties.
See also
- Oscar E. BerninghausOscar E. Berninghaus-Further reading:*Sanders, Gordon E. Oscar E. Berninghaus, Taos, New Mexico: Master Painter of American Indians and the Frontier West. Taos Heritage Publishing Company, 1985. ISBN 0-9615-1771-9-External links:* * Paintings* *...
- Elbridge Ayer BurbankElbridge Ayer BurbankElbridge Ayer Burbank was an American artist who sketched and painted more than 1200 portraits of Native Americans from 125 tribes. He studied art in Chicago and in his 30s traveled to Munich, Germany for additional studies with notable German artists...
- George CatlinGeorge CatlinGeorge Catlin was an American painter, author and traveler who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West.-Early years:...
- E. Irving CouseE. Irving CouseEanger Irving Couse was an American artist and a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico, and the American Southwest...
- W. Herbert DuntonW. Herbert DuntonWilliam Herbert "Buck" Dunton was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico, and the American Southwest.-Early life and education:...
- Seth and Mary EastmanSeth and Mary EastmanSeth Eastman and his second wife Mary Henderson Eastman were instrumental in recording Native American life. Eastman was an artist and West Point graduate who served in the US Army, first as a mapmaker and illustrator. He had two tours at Fort Snelling, Minnesota Territory; during the second,...
- Paul KanePaul KanePaul Kane was an Irish-born Canadian painter, famous for his paintings of First Nations peoples in the Canadian West and other Native Americans in the Oregon Country....
- W. Langdon KihnW. Langdon KihnWilfred Langdon Kihn was a portrait painter and illustrator specializing in portraits of American Indians.He was born in Brooklyn, New York, son of Alfred Charles Kihn and Carrie Lowe Kihn...
- Charles Bird KingCharles Bird KingCharles Bird King is a United States artist who is best known for his portraiture. In particular, the artist is notable for the portraits he painted of Native American delegates coming to Washington D.C., which were commissioned by government's Bureau of Indian Affairs.-Biography:Charles Bird King...
- John Mix StanleyJohn Mix StanleyJohn Mix Stanley was an artist-explorer, an American painter of landscapes, and Native American portraits and tribal life. Born in the Finger Lakes region of New York, he started painting signs and portraits as a young man, but in 1842 traveled to the American West to paint Native American life...
Further reading
- Fenn, Forrest. The Beat of the Drum and the Whoop of the Dance: A Study of the Life and Work of Joseph Henry Sharp. Santa Fe: Fenn Publishing Co., 1983.
External links
- Taos Painters: Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953)
- The Couse Foundation: J. H. Sharp and Sharp Portfolio
- Joseph Henry Sharp Gallery
- Photo of restored interior of Absarokee Hut, Buffalo Bill Historical Center
- "Part 5, excerpts from Forest Fenn, 'Teepee Smoke: A New Look into the Life and Works of Joseph Henry Sharp'", reprinted in Western Art Collector, February 2008, Medicine Man Gallery Website, includes a photo of the interior of his Taos studio
Paintings
- Crow Reservation - Teepees and Indians (Sweat Lodge) (1920)
- Fine Bull
- Grand Canyon
- Hunting Son (1926)
- Sidi-bou-Said, (TunisiaTunisiaTunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
)