Signed and dated lower left: J.H. Sharp / 1900

Private collection, El Rito, New Mexico.

Joseph Henry Sharp (American, 1859-1953) Chief Flat Iron, Sioux, 1900-04 Oil on canvas 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm) Signed and dated lower left: J.H. Sharp / 1900 Titled on the stretcher: Chief Flat Iron, Sioux PROVENANCE: Private collection, El Rito, New Mexico. Inscribed on the backing board: "After Many Years (of Warfare)" (Longfellow) Portrait of Chief Flat Iron, Ogalalla, Sioux -Red Cloud Clan- Great Medicine Man, + Prominent in Custer battle, with Buffalo Bill in U.S. and Europe many years Scalp locks on his leggins- Only Important chiefs wore the Full length war bonnet, Painted at Pine Ridge, S.D. in 1903 or 1904 J.H. Sharp Joseph Henry Sharp, the father of the Taos art colony, was born in Bridgeport, Ohio, and spent his teenage years in Cincinnati, where he studied art at the McMicken School of Design and the Cincinnati Art Academy. Over the course of the 1880s and early 1890s Sharp continued his studies in Munich, Antwerp and Paris. From 1892 to 1902, he taught life drawing and portraiture at the Cincinnati Art Academy. Sharp made a trip to Taos, New Mexico, in 1893 and from 1902 to 1909, he spent summers in Taos and winters at Crow Agency in Montana. In 1910 he settled permanently in Taos. In the 1930s Sharp traveled to China and Hawaii, and in later years he spent winters in Pasadena, California. Sharp, himself had a profound influence on many other artists who eventually found their way to Northern New Mexico. While studying in Paris, he met fellow American art students Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips, and piqued their interest in Southwestern native culture with his tales of his travels throughout the region. Having first visited Taos in 1893 for Harper's Weekly, Sharp's stories of that trip led Blumenschein and Phillips to undertake their famous trip to New Mexico in 1898. This adventure, complete with broken wagon wheel, resulted in Phillips relocating to Taos and the later establishment of the Taos Society of Artists. Sharp was a charter member of that group, which was formed the same year that he established his own residency in the village. Sharp's Indian portraits underwent a slow but distinct evolution. At first, he essentially continued to paint Northern Plains portraits by dressing his Taos Indian models in the clothing that he collected from his time on the Crow Agency. Most often these portraits evoked Northern Plains traditions by the inclusion of objects from the daily lives of such tribes as the Crow, Sioux, and Blackfeet. Gradually Sharp began to turn his attention away from his previous subjects to a focus on the life and culture that surrounded him. While he continued to rely on his collection of Plains material throughout his long career, he just as often produced portraits and paintings that showed the lives and customs of his Taos models as they truly lived. Those later paintings show few vestiges of Plains culture. Chief Flat Iron (also known as Chief Iron Shell or Tokalayota) was a prominent leader of the Oglala Lakota Sioux in the 19th century. His leadership played a key role in shaping the relations between Native American tribes and the encroaching U.S. settlers and government. The Oglala Sioux were one of the seven sub-tribes of the Lakota, a part of the larger Sioux Nation, whose homeland spanned the Great Plains of North America. Flat Iron was widely respected among his people for his wisdom, bravery, and negotiation skills. His leadership came at a time when Native American tribes were facing increased pressure from westward expansion, particularly with the U.S. government's policies of forced relocation and assimilation. As part of the Oglala Sioux, he was instrumental in navigating the challenges posed by the encroachment of settlers onto traditional lands, the construction of railroads, and the diminishing buffalo population, which threatened the Lakota way of life. Like other leaders of the time, he sought to preserve the Lakota people's sovereignty and cultural identity in the face of mounting external pressures. Sharp was on a trip to Montana, staying at the Crow Agency, in 1899 when he was introduced to the Chief. In Chief Flat Iron, Sioux, the subject sits casually before an unseen fire smoking a peace pipe, a major means of communication between humans and sacred beings. The glow of the fire, itself excluded from the composition, bathes Chief Flat Iron in warm rays of crimson light while his feathered war bonnet is hung aside as he absorbs the tranquility of the day's end. Sharp's portrait is a reminder of Chief Flat Iron's legacy as a key figure during one of the most turbulent times in Native American history. His leadership, rooted in both strength and diplomacy, reflects the resilience and adaptability of the Lakota people in their quest to protect their land, people, and way of life. HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Unlined canvas. Under UV exam, the edges of the figures left bicep appear reinforced, and a few dots and dashes of inpaint in the feathers right of the figure. Faint stretcher bar lines visible. Faint 1 inch scuff in the left arm of the figure. Framed Dimensions 29 X 25 Inches