Biography from Altermann Galleries and Auctioneers, Santa Fe I:
| Eanger Irving Couse was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1866. At a young age, Couse drew the Chippewa Indians near his home, setting the foundation for his lifelong fascination with Native American culture. As a young man, he left Michigan in pursuit of advanced training and better opportunities, first studying at the Chicago Art Institute, then at the National Academy of Design in New York City. While in New York, he proved to be a gifted artist, winning numerous prizes, and by 1886 had entered the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris, where he learned much about figure painting, including the habit of posing a model in a crouched or kneeling position close to the picture plane.
In 1891, Couse returned to America and traveled to Oregon, where he painted his first Indian portraits of the Klikitat tribe. He then returned to France for several years, but in 1897, came back again to Oregon, built a studio, and concentrated on his Indian paintings. In 1902, he moved to New York and attracted critical praise. The following summer, at the urging of his friend Joseph Sharp, he traveled to New Mexico and rented a house in Taos next door to the studio of Bert Phillips. He spent every summer painting in Taos until 1927, when he finally established a permanent residence there.
E. Irving Couse produced a great many paintings of the Pueblo Indians, but he was less interested in historical or ethnographical accuracy than in the portrayal of figures from an artistic standpoint. He was probably the Taos Society member with the highest reputation in his lifetime
There is little doubt that Couse cultivated the popularity that came to him through is painting. He clearly wanted to continue to paint the subject that had brought him fame, so he adopted a formula for his Indian painting. Couse was greatly inspired by the Indians of the Taos Pueblo, as well as the brilliant light and colors of the Taos Valley. This influence is apparent in the brighter palette that Couse utilized to illustrate the rich tones and vastness of the New Mexico landscape. The idealized arrangements of the figures in their forest or pueblo settings become almost interchangeable when viewed together as a whole.
His Taos Indians inhabit a picturesque world created by the artist; they no longer seem to be noble savages, but noble ornaments. The scenes Couse created suggest that Native Americans were peaceful, dignified human beings and not the savages of Western lore. The quiet, introspective quality of the figures in Couse’s works expresses the humanity and nobility of each individual model, a few of which modeled for Couse for decades.
Yet, Couse’s power as a painter occasionally transcended the limitations of his subject. The paint strokes he used to characterize a body or figure are rich and confident, setting up a rhythmic flow, which moves throughout the work. A typical color scheme of the artist’s encompasses a desire to give richness and subdued vibrancy to his settings; earth tones are intermingled with stronger shades of orange-red, slate green, and deep blue so as to enliven the surface without altering the overall stillness of the subject. The generally coarse canvas, thinly painted in the background, helps add a greater sense of depth to the scene.
Couse’s paintings received tremendous national exposure and made Taos a major tourist attraction. Couse created images that were very influential in changing the public’s perception of the West. He was a dedicated and inspired artist who incorporated classical art practices and reinterpreted the West as subject matter. His paintings are still regarded as the most expressive of his time.
Couse died in 1936.
His works are exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Smithsonian Institution; the Gilcrease Institute of Art; and the Museum of New Mexico, among other public and private collections.
Resources: The American West: Legendary Artists of the Frontier, Dr. Rick Stewart,Hawthorne Publishing Company, 1986
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Biography from Thomas Nygard Gallery:
| Eanger Irving Couse was born in Saginaw, Michigan, on September 3, 1866. He began to draw as a child, often sketching the Chippewa Indians of his hometown. He liked to listen to the stories told about the Indians, an interest which heralded his later paintings.
Couse studied at the Chicago Art Institute, and later in Paris, in 1884, at the Julien Academy, and the School of Beaux Arts. He became the favorite pupil of William Bouguereau and won numerous awards as a student.
In 1889, he married Virginia Walker, an American art student he met in Paris. In 1890, they returned to America and lived at her family’s ranch in Oregon and in New York. Couse made many paintings of the Northwest Indians during his years in Oregon.
In 1901, at the invitation of Joseph Henry Sharp, Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips, the Couses traveled to Taos and immediately fell in love with the Southwest. Each year after that, they would summer in Taos and return to New York, where he would finish the paintings he started in Taos.
In 1903, Couse went to Arizona, where he produced his rare paintings of the Hopi Indians. By 1928, the Couses had decided to permanently live in Taos. 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.
Some of Couse’s most important commissions came from the Santa Fe Railway. Only two of the twenty-two subjects reproduced on the Santa Fe Railway calendars were specifically commissioned by the Railway to coordinate with their advertising campaign and both were paintings of a Chief - this full figure painting and the 1934 bust of a Chief.
Couse had already started on a painting called The Blanket when C.J. Black, the passenger traffic manager and senior member of the calendar committee, suggested that the 1928 calendar feature an Indian Chief to coordinate with the introduction of a new extra-fare train named "The Chief". "The Chief in his war bonnet has ascended an eminence to watch the approaching train from the east - placing his was shield at his feet he gives the sign of welcome in the sign language by placing his right hand over his heart"
His works are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Milwaukee Art Center, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Philbrook Art Center, the Gilcrease Institute of Art, and the Museum of New Mexico, among numerous other collections both public and private.
PUBLICATIONS:
® E. Irving Couse: 1866-1936 by Nicholas Woloshuk (Santa Fe Village Art Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1976) page 90, color reproduction.
® E. Irving Couse: Image Maker for America edited by Virginia Couse Leavitt & Ellen Landis (Albuquerque Museum of Art, 1991) page 221, color reproduction.
® Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, 1928 Calendar, color reproduction.
Related works:
® A Vision Of The Past
59 x 59 inches
Oil on canvas
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
® The New Rug, a.k.a./The Indian Blanket Seller
46 x 34 _ inches
Oil on canvas
Private collection, Jackson, Wyoming
® The Sun Worshippers
60 x 60 inches
Oil on canvas
Anschutz Collection, Denver, Colorado
® The Wedding
70 x 36 _ inches
Oil on canvas
Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian & Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana
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Biography from Nedra Matteucci Galleries:
| EANGER IRVING COUSE (1866-1936)
Eanger Irving Couse was born in Saginaw, Michigan. His lifelong pursuit of painting Native Americans was kindled by the beauty and tranquility of the local Chippewa and Ojibwa cultures. Couse chose a career in art at an early age, studying at the Chicago Art Institute, the National Academy of Design in New York, and, as was the dream of many young artists of the time, at the Académie Julian in Paris. The training he received in Europe, particularly under Adolphe Bouguereau and Robert Fleury, influenced the measured studio style he practiced for the rest of his life.
In Paris, Couse married a fellow artist whose family ranch in Washington State provided him with access to a number of Indian tribes. Lyrical portraits of the Klikitat, Yakima, and Umatilla, painted in the Barbizon style, were his first attempts at truly American subjects. His historical narratives of the West brought him great acclaim at the Paris Salon exhibitions.
Finding French peasant scenes and European landscapes more saleable, Couse returned to a successful career in France. However, upon the advice of fellow artists Joseph Henry Sharp and Ernest Blumenschein, Couse made his first visit to Taos in 1902. Though Couse maintained a studio in Manhattan during the winter months until 1928, Taos was his inspiration and became his permanent home.
Couse was elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design in 1911. His paintings are represented in numerous museums and private collections including the Detroit Institute of Art, the Metropolitan Museum and the National Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. His paintings received tremendous national exposure and made Taos a major attraction. Couse created images that were highly influential in changing the public's perception of the West. He was a dedicated and prolific artist, and his paintings are still regarded as the most poetic renderings of a vanished time.
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Biography from THE COEUR D' ALENE ART AUCTION:
| E.I. Couse was born in Saginaw, Michigan and began his art career by sketching the Chippewa Indians who lived around his home town. Indians remained his favorite subject matter throughout his long and successful career. He painted houses and barns to earn enough money for art school and, at the age of eighteen, he attended the Chicago Art Institute and later, The National Academy of Design in New York.
In 1887 he went to Paris to study at the Academie Julian under Robert Fleury and Adolphe Bouguereau. It was Bouguereau who was largely responsible for his superb draftsmanship and classical technique. Couse returned to Paris many times in subsequent years and on one of those visits married Virginia Walker, a fellow student at the Academie.
When they returned to America, they went to the Walker ranch in northeastern Oregon where Couse painted the Klikitat, Yakima, and Umatilla Indians. Since there was little market for Indian portraits at that time, they returned to France and settled on the English Channel. There Couse devoted his talents to the more marketable pastoral scenes. His son Kibby, who was born in France, recalled that the family referred to this as his father's "sheep period".
Couse visited Taos for the first time in 1902, having heard of its artistic potential from Joseph Sharp. In Taos he found the perfect subject matter; his paintings began to take on more color and new authority. In 1912, when the Taos Society of Artists was formed, he was elected president, and in 1927, the family established a year-round home there. His wife died two years later and though he continued to paint, he never fully recovered.
Couse won award after award and was a member of innumerable art and social societies. His poetic interpretation of the Taos Indian with clay pottery in the firelight, or the tall white trunk of the aspen tree as a background for the glowing flesh of the Indian became familiar to thousands. |
Biography from William A. Karges Fine Art - Carmel:
| E.I. Couse was born in Saginaw, Michigan, where he first started drawing the Chippewa Indians who lived nearby. Couse worked hard to pay for his art education, occasionally dropping out to earn money while attending the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Academy of Design.
In 1897 Couse left for Paris to study at the Academie Julian, where he met an American artist, Joseph Henry Sharp, who often spoke of Taos. Couse would become a frequent visitor and resident of Taos from 1902 on. In 1912 when the Taos Society of Artists was formed, Couse was elected its first President.
Couse is best known for his intimate images of Native Americans in moments of spiritual ceremony and quiet repose. |
Biography from Adobe Gallery:
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Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936) was born
in Saginaw, Michigan, and died in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of
the original six charter members of the Taos Society of Artists, he
first visited Taos in June of 1902 on the recommendation of
Blumenschein.
In 1928, E. A. Couse gave up his New York City studio and settled
permanently in Taos. E. A. Couse became an important painter, bringing
recognition to the Taos community and its Indian heritage.
His compositions gave a true picture of some phases of Indian life.
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Biography from AskART:
| Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Eanger Couse is primarily known for Taos Pueblo Indian males sitting or squatting by camp fire light, suggesting that Indians were peaceful, dignified human beings and not the savages of Western lore.
Growing up in Saginaw, he lived among the Chippewa Indians and as a youngster did sketches of these native people. From a poor family, he was a determined artist who studied for three months at the Art Institute of Chicago, having earned just enough money by painting houses, and then he returned to Saginaw to earn more money so he could go to New York City which he did in 1885. He enrolled in the National Academy of Design and did many odd jobs to support himself, and after two years returned to Saginaw, again to earn money.
In 1887, he went to Paris to the Academie Julian where his great influence became the superb draftsmanship and classical techniques of William Adolphe Bouguereau. Couse returned to Paris many times, and on one of these trips met his future wife, Virginia Walker, an art student whose family had a ranch in Oregon.
When he and his wife visited her parents on a sheep ranch in Oregon, he painted the Yakima, Umatilla, and Klikitat Indians in the pastel colors of the French Barbizon School. However, there was little interest in Indian subject matter for fine art in America. He also painted pastoral scenes, which were more popular than his Indian subjects.
Couse went back to France and settled in a rural town in the province of Pas de Calais on the English Channel and painted bucolic genre scenes, invariably with sheep on hillsides. Although he had stylistic influences from Europe, he became more and more determined to create an art that was uniquely American and was increasingly fascinated with Indians as subject matter.
In 1902, Couse visited Taos, New Mexico for the first time, having heard about it in Paris from his friend, Joseph Henry Sharp. In Pueblo Indians, Couse found the subject matter that seemed right for him, but he had difficulty finding ones to pose because of their belief that the soul of the sitter passes into the picture once it is completed.
In 1912, when the Taos Society of Artists was formed, he was elected its first president, and in 1927, he and his family moved there permanently. His wife died two years later, much affecting his spirit and the vitality of his paintings.
Although he posed models for sketching outdoors, he continued to paint in his comfortable studio in a French academic manner. He also painted occasionally in Arizona, going first in 1903, to the Hopi ceremonies at Walpi.
His models for most of his New Mexico Indian figure painting were Ben Lujan and Geronimo Gomez, Taos Pueblo residents. The tone is poetic and peaceful and reflects a civilization that is at peace with itself. Usually the squatting Indian figures were engaged in domestic activity such as preparing food, and their handsome physiques were accentuated by moonlight.
Beginning 1914, his paintings were used on calendars by the Santa Fe Railway and became the basis for the company's comprehensive Southwest art collection. The first calendar painting was "Wal-si-el, Good Medicine", which initiated the tradition of using Taos painters on the calendars, and twenty-three of them had work by Couse.
Source:
David Michael Zellman, "300 Years of American Art"
Peggy and Harold Samuels, "Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West"
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The following information is from J. Patterson:
In 1884, at the age of 18, Couse was able to spend three months at the Chicago
Art Institute before his money ran out. Undaunted, he returned home for a
season of house painting. For the next two years,1885-1887,Couse was a student at the National Academy of Design in New York. Each year he won awards at the academy's student exhibitions.
In 1887, Couse went to Paris, where he studied under Adolphe Bouguereau and Robert Fleury at the Academie Julian. For four years he won awards at the academy, which confirmed his skill and taste.
In 1891, while in Paris, he married fellow art student Virginia Walker, a rancher's daughter from Washington near the Oregon border. The entire Couse family, including son Kibbey who was born in 1894 in Etaples, a coastal village, lived in France for several years. Within Couse's work is a group of French landscapes similar to his northwest American pieces: direct, broadly painted scenes of coastal fishing and pastorals of shepherds. These also were painted in low-key pastel colors. A pale moon can be found in several of these paintings.
For a few years Couse earned his living from portraits, but he was a shrewd
businessman and he understood the need to market his work from a New York base. By maintaining a studio in the city and always being present during the winter exhibition season, he created the network of contacts artists must have in order to sell their work.
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