STEEPING IN DEEP NOSTALGIA – Joseph Henry Sharps, all life for the vanishing culture of the American Indian

JOSEPH HENRY SHARPS 1/3 – He was born in a September day, 1859 and lived a long life (with a prolific career as a painter best known for his realistic portrayal of the American Indians). Over his lifetime, Sharp had produced around 10,500 works of art. 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.

JOSEPH HENRY SHARPS 2/3 –In 1881, he went to Europe to study art (at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he participated in academic competitions). Although his family discouraged him from painting the American Indian, in the spring of 1883 he made his first trip out west. In 1885, he returned to Europe and he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Munich, where he studied the technique of direct painting, wet on wet.

JOSEPH HENRY SHARPS 3/3 – Upon his return to the States, he taught at the Cincinnati Art Academy and made a living doing portraits of prominent citizens. Starting in 1930, Sharp vacationed for a number of winters in Hawaii together with his second wife, Louise. In 1945, he was blessed with another major patron (Thomas Gilcrease), that purchased many of his paintings. Sharp closed the studio in Taos when he was 93 years old to travel to California.

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