Quinnah

Joseph Henry Sharp, Quinnah, 1902, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Victor Justice Evans, 1985.66.362,131
Joseph Henry Sharp, Quinnah, 1902, oil on canvas, 1812 14 in. (45.731.0 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Victor Justice Evans, 1985.66.362,131

Artwork Details

Title
Quinnah
Date
1902
Dimensions
1812 14 in. (45.731.0 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Victor Justice Evans
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Indian — Flathead
  • Portrait male — Quinnah — bust
Object Number
1985.66.362,131

Artwork Description

Joseph Henry Sharp painted almost two hundred portraits of Native Americans. Like many Europeans and Americans of the time, he placed people in racial categories according to their features. A Portland journalist wrote of Sharp’s portraits, “With the same perception, the artist seems to select the types that from the ethnologist’s standpoint, are nearest perfect.” (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). According to the artist, Quinnah was “a very strong type of young warrior [and] horse raider from [the] Crows . . .” (Sharp to Mr. Ewers, August 8, 1948).

Works by this artist (21 items)

Tidal Wave
Date1972
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
June Wayne, Tower of Babel A, from the series Fable Series, 1955, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Stone Circle Foundation, 1969.107
Tower of Babel A, from the series Fable Series
Date1955
lithograph on paper
Not on view
Escape II
Date1986
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
No Sun
Date1985
color lithograph on paper
Not on view

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Jesús Moroles, Lapstrake I, 1980, Georgia gray granite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alton and Emily Steiner, 2002.82
Lapstrake I
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John Safer, Chandelle, 1969, revised 2013, Lucite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2007.23
Chandelle
Date1969, revised 2013
Lucite
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Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Shell), early 1930s, mixed media: paperboard, paper, shells, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, 1985.64.37
Untitled (Shell)
Dateearly 1930s
mixed media: paperboard, paper, shells
Not on view
Emery Blagdon, The Healing Machine, ca. 1955-1986, mixed media, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and gift of Dan Dryden, friend of Emery Blagdon, the Kohler Foundation, Inc., and John E. and Douglas O. Robson, from the Margaret Z. Robson Collection, VR.2014.49.GRP
The Healing Machine
Dateca. 1955-1986
mixed media
On view