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拍品专文
Joseph Henry Sharp first visited the Crow Agency in Montana in the summer of 1899, fascinated with the history and culture of the Crow Indians as well as the nearby battlefield where George Armstrong Custer took his last stand. Sharp immediately felt a connection with the place and an urgency to document the Native American community’s way of life in the face of forthcoming change. Between 1902 and 1910, Sharp established a permanent fall and winter home among the Crow, building a log cabin on the Agency in 1905. While the winter months were bitterly cold in Montana—particularly compared to Taos, New Mexico, Sharp declared, “At this season of the year…the snowy landscape, sage brush foothills, and winter foliage along the Little Big Horn River are more paintable.” (as quoted in F. Fenn, Teepee Smoke, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2007, p. 166)
Indian Encampment is a scene that Sharp often saw out his window, as the fields seen from his Montana studio filled with teepees during the Crow councils and annual Crow Fair. Forrest Fenn explains, “By merely walking out his door and looking across the river, he could observe hundreds of Crow, and frequently Sioux, Cheyenne, and Blackfeet, visiting from other reservations…The beauty of this vast land, the changing seasons, and the symbols and faces of the past brought them tranquility and fulfillment.” (Teepee Smoke, pp. 170, 172) For a change in scenery, he would also walk about the land with a box of paints, folding easel and stool to paint en plein air. For longer jaunts Sharp converted a horse-drawn, heated sheepherder’s wagon into a portable studio he named “The Prairie Dog.”
In the present work, Sharp enlivens his depiction of an Indian encampment in winter through the bright colors of the brush emerging from the snow, the pops of red on the figures, and the brighter blues and yellows along the horizon line. Tracks in the snow lead the viewer’s eye to the woman outside of her teepee, adjusting her travois . With sumptuous pastel shades and feathery brushwork, Sharp captures the soft winter light enveloping the landscape, while infusing the scene with the warm camaraderie he felt among the Crow.
Indian Encampment is a scene that Sharp often saw out his window, as the fields seen from his Montana studio filled with teepees during the Crow councils and annual Crow Fair. Forrest Fenn explains, “By merely walking out his door and looking across the river, he could observe hundreds of Crow, and frequently Sioux, Cheyenne, and Blackfeet, visiting from other reservations…The beauty of this vast land, the changing seasons, and the symbols and faces of the past brought them tranquility and fulfillment.” (Teepee Smoke, pp. 170, 172) For a change in scenery, he would also walk about the land with a box of paints, folding easel and stool to paint en plein air. For longer jaunts Sharp converted a horse-drawn, heated sheepherder’s wagon into a portable studio he named “The Prairie Dog.”
In the present work, Sharp enlivens his depiction of an Indian encampment in winter through the bright colors of the brush emerging from the snow, the pops of red on the figures, and the brighter blues and yellows along the horizon line. Tracks in the snow lead the viewer’s eye to the woman outside of her teepee, adjusting her travois . With sumptuous pastel shades and feathery brushwork, Sharp captures the soft winter light enveloping the landscape, while infusing the scene with the warm camaraderie he felt among the Crow.