In this ongoing series for Fine Art Today, we take a longer look at the history and features of a soon-to-be-available artwork of note. This week: Eanger Irving Couse, “The Successful Hunter.”
Born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1866, Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936) is widely recognized as one of best American painters of Native Americans, New Mexico, and the American Southwest. Couse was a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists, and his work can be found in the public collections of museums across the United States, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Detroit Museum of Art — to name a few.
Today Couse’s home and studio are part of National Register of Historic Places. Among the honors Couse received during his lifetime were the Isidor Prize in 1917 from the famed Salmagundi Club and the Altman Prize in 1916 from the National Academy of Design.
Heading to the auction block via Altermann Galleries & Auctioneers on April 1 is the gorgeous “The Successful Hunter” by Couse. The magnetic oil displays a single Native American subject walking toward the viewer along a well-trodden path. Slung over the subject’s shoulder is the evening’s meal. The palette of the work is magnificent, filled with cool pastel greens and blues among the birch trees and warm browns and oranges composing the earth. The eye receives a brief reprieve in the subject’s clothing, which flashes a bright red hue that provides a point of focus. Bidding for the painting begins at $90,000 and is expected to realize as much as $120,000.
To view the full catalogue, visit Altermann Galleries & Auctioneers.
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Featured Lot: Eanger Irving Couse, “The Successful Hunter”
