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ART “4” “2”-DAY
27 September
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| BIRTH: 1859 SHARP |
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Born on 27 September 1859: Joseph
Henry Sharp, US painter, specialized in the
US West, who died on 29 August 1953. [photo
of Sharp] — Born in Bridgeport, Ohio, Joseph Henry Sharp was the founding member of the influential Taos Society of Artists. Sharp lost his hearing at the age of 14, he left public school and studied at the McMicken School of Design and later at the Cincinnati Art Academy. At 22 he went to Europe to study under artist Charles Verlat in Antwerp, and, on two more separate trips to Munich and Paris, under other artists including Benjamin-Constant and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre. When he returned to the US, he taught classes at the Cincinnati Art Academy and traveled widely throughout the Western states. Sharp first visited Taos, New Mexico, in 1893, one of the first White artists to paint there. He returned to Taos every summer until 1912, when he settled there permanently. Sharp's enthusiasm for the landscapes of New Mexico helped convinced his friends and fellow artists to settle there as well, and in 1917 the Taos Society of Artists was formed, consisting of Sharp, Ernest Blumenschein, Oscar Berninghaus, Bert Phillips, and others. In 1901, commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt, Sharp began painting portraits of the Amerindian tribesmen who had vanquished Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Nearly 200 of these portraits were completed, many of which became part of the collection of the University of California's anthropology department. Sharp died in California. — Joseph Henry Sharp was born in Bridgeport, Ohio in 1859 and has been considered a very important Taos painter specializing in Amerindian portraiture. He was an illustrator, teacher and "father of the Taos Art Colony." As a "latter day George Catlin" he had produced a sizeable number of sketches of Amerindians by the beginning of the twentieth century and worked on a program of completing his paintings during the Winter months. In 1901 the United States government commissioned his building a cabin and studio at the foot of the "Little Big Horn Battlefield" in Montana. Sharp produced about 200 portraits of Amerindians who had battled General George Armstrong Custer in the epic battle of the Little Big Horn. Eighty of those paintings were purchased for the University of California. Sharp was commissioned to execute fifteen more works each year for a five year period. These works are part of the University of California's anthropology department and show his eye for scientific accuracy. Sharp studied at the McMicken School of Design and the Cincinatti Art Academy. He taught life classes at the Art Academy and also studied with Charles Verlat in Antwerp, Karl Marr in Munchen and Duveneck in Spain and Italy. — In 1912 Sharp made Taos, New Mexico his permanent residence. Working together with such notable artists as E.I. Couse, Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips, Sharp became the "father" of the Taos Art Colony (1915-1927). Like most other painters associated with the Taos Society of Artists, Sharp embraced the academic tradition, studying periodically between 1881 and 1898 with trained artists or in academies located in America and Europe. Sharp's first venture into Montana was in 1889. For his studio, he used a sheep wagon that he named the "Prairie Dog." This wagon gave him the freedom to travel to diverse locations for his artistic undertakings. Sharp would later build a log cabin and studio at Crow Agency, near the Little Big Horn Battlefield. He named the cabin the "Absarokee Hut", the traditional name of the Crow people. The application of his rigorously developed skills to the subject of Amerindian cultures formed the basis of his artistic career. Although his subjects varied greatly, the quality of his work was consistently superb. During his lifetime he painted over 10'500 works of art. — Sharp is widely considered to have been the “Spiritual Father” of the Taos Society of Artists. He was the first painter to visit New Mexico, before Phillips and Blumenschein made their historic wagon trip. He left behind a vast cultural record of Native American life, landscapes, and portraiture. His work is often referred to as poetic, and is steeped in deep nostalgia that he felt all his life for the vanishing culture of the American Indian and the old west. Sharp was born in Bridgeport, Ohio, to Irish parents. His father was a local merchant. From his earliest days, Sharp was fascinated by anything he could learn about the Amerindians. This interest did not extend, apparently, to anything taught in school. The young Joseph Henry was more interested in drawing, fishing and swimming, the latter of which almost killed him – he nearly drowned once in an incident in a river. Sharp was pulled out of the water by friends who thought he had died. However, after being carried home he was resuscitated by a determined mother. Unfortunately, Sharp would never completely recover from his accident. His hearing was damaged and would continue to deteriorate rapidly, eventually leaving him utterly deaf. At this early age, Sharp’s indomitable spirit was already manifest, as he never for a moment let his handicap hold him back. He learned to read lips and began to carry a pad and pencil with him wherever he went, never once losing his optimistic outlook on life. It was around this time that he began to realize that he had a natural facility for drawing, and he sketched often in the outdoors. When Sharp was 12, his father died, leaving the family with almost no income. Though still in school (though just barely), Sharp went to work in a nail mill and copper shop, giving his earnings to his mother. Two years later, his continued hearing loss had rendered school impossible, and so he quit school entirely and moved to Cincinnati, where he lived with his aunt. At 14, he worked and supported himself entirely, still sent money to his mother, and managed to have enough to enroll in art classes at Mickmicken University in Cincinnati. In the late 19th century, studying in Europe was still considered compulsory for any aspiring artist, and after 8 years of working, and studying when he could, Sharp had saved enough extra money to travel to Europe, and spent two years at the Antwerp Academy studying in the realist tradition; history painting and portraiture. Sharp’s first trip to the West was in 1883 at age 24. He visited pueblos in New Mexico (though not Taos), Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Tucson, and then took a boat up the West Coast and disembarked in the Washington Territory. In the northwest he encountered natives from numerous tribes, and the sketches he did on that trip would be the basis for his first Amerindian portraits. His love of the West notwithstanding, Sharp seemed to feel that his studies were never really over, and he again set off to Europe. He went to Germany, Italy, but spent most of his time in Spain, studying the Spanish masters El Greco, Velazquez, and Goya. Back in Cincinnati, Sharp married in 1892, and finally visited Taos for the first time in 1893, on a commission from Harper’s Weekly. He was captivated by the then unspoilt life of the natives in Taos. The pictures he completed for the commission were very well received, and led to further illustration work with numerous publications. In spite of this success, Sharp still felt that his education was incomplete, and he went to Paris for two years of further study. It was in a class in Paris that he first met Burt Phillips and Ernest Blumenschein. He regaled his new friends with stories of the West, and showed them several of his drawings. Sharp’s words and pictures worked a spell on the pair, and they became determined to make their own trip west, which they would in 1898. He also separately met E.I. Couse in Paris, and had a stimulating effect on that young painter as well. However, when he returned to the US Sharp did not go back to the pueblos of New Mexico right away. He taught in Cincinnati, worked as an illustrator, and spent time in Montana, camping on the battlefield of Little Big Horn, becoming acquainted with and painting portraits of Plains Amerindians. In 1900, an exhibition of these portraits would travel to Paris and to Washington DC, and would prove to be a turning point in his career. The Smithsonian Institution purchased 11 portraits, and President Roosevelt took an interest in Sharp’s work. Roosevelt had the Indian Commission build and furnish a cabin and studio for Sharp. Sharp had it constructed at Little Big Horn, at the intersection of two rivers. Two years later, Phoebe Apperson Hearst (mother of William Randolph Hearst), bought 80 paintings from Sharp all at once. Suddenly Sharp was financially independent, and could quit teaching and illustrating to devote himself to painting full-time. While working in Montana, Sharp began amassing a huge personal collection of Native American artifacts and costumes. It was important to him that these things be preserved and understood, and that he was closely connected to and had a thorough understanding of his subject matter. He even made sure that he got to know all of his portrait subjects personally. In this way he was as much an anthropologist as a painter. Once he was independent and could paint freely, Sharp’s output was enormous. He had been a hard worker ever since he had to support himself at 14, and this attribute never left him. He sometimes completed hundreds of paintings in a year. The Northern Plains Amerindians remained the focus of these efforts for a long time. Sharp felt that his attention belonged there, rather than the pueblos, because he saw the Plains Amerindians and their way of life dwindling much faster. He knew that Taos would still be there in 10 years. He began to spend some summers in New Mexico, and in 1909 purchased an old Penitente chapel to use as a studio. The Penitente sect was one that believed in self-flagellation as a means of atonement, and apparently the chapel still had bloodstains on the rafters when Sharp moved in. In 1912 Sharp finally relocated to Taos permanently, and was a charter member of the Taos Society of Artists, formed that same year. He worked and exhibited with the group for many years, and by all accounts was widely loved and respected. He had a reputation as being friendly, witty, and patient. An interesting note about his first years in Taos is that he painted several pictures of Plains Amerindians there, using locals as models with costume from his own collection. It is interesting to see a portrait of an Amerindian with hair braided in the Taos style, wearing plains garb and a scowl. The scowl being a reflection of how the subject felt about being coerced into wearing the regalia of another tribe. Those portraits aside, Sharp threw himself into recording the environment and life of the pueblo. He generally sketched outdoors, and completed paintings in his studio. He continued to enjoy critical, as well as financial success, which allowed him to continue his already extensive travels. He spent years in Spain, went to Africa twice, to South America, and even to Japan and China. He also spent several winters in Hawaii before World War II. In the 1920’s he bought a winter home in Pasadena, California, and there worked at landscapes and floral paintings. At age 93, Joseph Henry Sharp closed his studio in Taos. He intended to return the following year but fell ill, and died in Pasadena. He left behind thousands of paintings, an unparalleled visual record of the Amerindian. His paintings express a strange poetic note, rare sense of beauty, and rich tonal perception. Hardly is there a painter who could strive for more. But Sharp achieved something else: he was one of the US West’s most important historians, and the US owes him a debt for it. — LINKS |
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— The
Bonnet Maker (1910, 46x38cm) _ Joseph Henry Sharp
is considered the founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. Sharp
completed many portraits of Amerindian figures, including many of the
warriors who fought Custer in the Battle of Little Big Horn. This portrait,
like many of Sharp's paintings, records a part of Amerindian culture.
Full of Sharp's highly developed sense of detail, The Bonnet Maker is
remarkable for the dappling of the sunlight on the seated figure. |
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