Do-Ree-Tah

Joseph Henry Sharp painted Do-Ree-Tah from life at his summer studio in Taos, New Mexico. She was a Pueblo Indian, and Sharp later explained that her headdress marked her as unmarried. (Letter from Sharp to Mr. Ewers, Taos, New Mexico, August 8, 1948) In 1898, Sharp was one of the first artists to set up a studio in Taos, where he persuaded his sitters to dress in clothing from his own collection of native artifacts. Art critics praised Sharp for his ability “to assemble around his subjects authentic paraphernalia, which gives the true atmosphere of their romantic past.” In this portrait the spare background and broad brushwork focus our attention on the girl’s facial features. Sharp also eliminated any props that might hint at the modern world in which his models existed. (Watkins, “Painting the American Indian at the Turn of the Century: Joseph Henry Sharp and His Patrons, William H. Holmes, Phoebe A. Hearst, and Joseph G. Butler, Jr.,” PhD diss., 2000)