Running Horse

Joseph Henry Sharp, Running Horse, 1897, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1985.66.209,417
Joseph Henry Sharp, Running Horse, 1897, oil on paperboard, 13 349 58 in. (34.924.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1985.66.209,417

Artwork Details

Title
Running Horse
Date
1897
Dimensions
13 349 58 in. (34.924.5 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on paperboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Portrait male — Running Horse — bust
  • Indian — Pueblo
Object Number
1985.66.209,417

Artwork Description

Joseph Henry Sharp painted Running Horse in Taos, New Mexico, where he made idealized portraits of Native Americans for his Cincinnati patrons. In a letter to John Ewers in August 1948, Sharp noted that he painted this portrait “years ago before they began to paint and dress up with feathers and stuff for tourists. This fellow is [now] a big fat 200-pounder & has a curio store!” Sharp’s comment indicates that many of his models, though pictured in “authentic” costume and seemingly untouched by the modern world, had become assimilated into a culture that regarded them as marketable curiosities. (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)

Works by this artist (36 items)

Seong Moy, Vis-a-vis, 1962, color woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1969.35.18, © 1962, Seong Moy
Vis-a-vis
Date1962
color woodcut on paper
Not on view
Seong Moy, Nude #1, 1967, pen and ink and ink wash on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1969.35.31, © 1967, Seong Moy
Nude #1
Date1967
pen and ink and ink wash on paper
Not on view
Seong Moy, Porthole, n.d., etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1969.35.23, © Seong Moy
Porthole
Daten.d.
etching on paper
Not on view
Seong Moy, Black Stone and Red Pebble, ca. 1970s, color woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Ruth and Jacob Kainen, 1989.77.9, © 1970s, Seong Moy
Black Stone and Red Pebble
Dateca. 1970s
color woodcut on paper
Not on view