Fine Western Art Collections
West Lives On Gallery
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Eanger Irving Couse
1866 - 1936 |
Eanger Irving Couse was born in Saginaw,
Michigan in 1866. Growing up, Couse sketched the Chippewa
Indians in his hometown. This led to his fascination and
lifelong career of painting the American Indian. Couse went on
to study at the Chicago Art Institute and the National Academy of
Design in New York. In later years Couse moved to Paris and
studied at the Academie Julian. The training he received in
Europe, particularly under Adolphe Bouguereau and Robert Fleury,
influenced the measured studio style Couse practiced for the rest of
his life. He learned a significant amount on figure painting,
including the habit of posing a model in a crouched or kneeling
position close to the picture plane.
While in Paris, Couse also fell in love with, and married, a
fellow American art student Virginia Walker. The two moved back
to America and lived on her family's ranch in northeast Oregon.
There, Couse painted the Klickitat, Yakima and Umatilla Indians.
Couse soon found that his Native American paintings would not sell as
well as a more pastoral scene. The Couses moved to the East and
traveled between New York and Paris. During this time Couse was
painting whatever would sell.
In 1901, Couse was encouraged by Joseph Sharp to visit Taos, New
Mexico. Couse immediately fell in love with the southwest.
He decided to live mainly in New York, and summer Taos for the next 27
years before moving to New Mexico permanently. It was in Taos
that Couse's work took on more authority and color. He spent his
time painting the Pueblo Indians. The scenes he created, suggest
that native Americans were peaceful, dignified human beings and not
the savages of western lore.
Couse became very active in the local art scene, becoming one of the
six 'Taos Founders' of the Taos Society of Artists, a group of
legendary artists whose influence is still strongly felt in the art
world today. His paintings are held by numerous museums
throughout the United States, and are regarded as the most poetic
renderings of a vanished time. |
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"Blessing The Waters"
oil • 20" x 24" •
SOLD |
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