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joseph henry sharp

Joseph Henry Sharp was one of the six original members of the historically important Taos Society of Artists, founded in New Mexico in 1915, and is considered to be its “Spiritual Father”. The original members of the group, known collectively as the “Taos Six” included Sharp, Eanger Irving Couse, Oscar Berninghaus, Bert Geer Phillips, W. Herbert Dunton, and Ernest Blumenschein. Later members included E. Martin Hennings and Walter Ufer.

Sharp was born in Ohio in 1859 and became deaf as a child as a result of a near-drowning accident. At age 14 he moved to Cincinnati Ohio to live with his aunt and studied art at Mickmicken University, and later traveled to Europe to study at the Antwerp Academy.

He was one of the first American painters to visit the Taos area in 1893, and he quickly fell in love with the local people, their culture, and the landscape. He set up his artist’s studio there in 1909. He moved permanently to Taos in 1912 where he became internationally known for his portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes that prominently feature and celebrate Native Americans. J.H. Sharp was awarded the Gold Medal at the Panama-California Exposition in 1915, and was a member of the Salamagundi Club, the Society of Western Artists and the Artists' Guild of Chicago.

J.H Sharp is remembered for his portraits of Native Americans in the Southwest that feature close attention to detail and visually illustrate the spirit, character, and essence of the subject. He is also known for his Western landscape paintings. He passed away in 1953, in Pasadena, where he had established a studio in 1910.

Collections:
President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned Sharp to paint 200 portraits of Native Americans, 11 of which are now in the Smithsonian Institute. Phoebe Hearst, William Randolph Hearst's mother, purchased 155 of Sharp's paintings which she eventually donated to U.C. Berkeley. This outstanding collection is now at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology in that city. The largest collection of the artist's works is held by the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa Oklahoma, and his paintings can also be found at the Amon Carter Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Art, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and in many other significant private collections worldwide.

For additional information, visit:
The Gilcrease Museum Collection of Sharp Paintings
Joseph Henry Sharp Paintings in the The Smithsonian Institution
Wikipedia
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Couse-Sharp Historic Site
J.H. Sharp Paintings in U.S. Embassies