Taos Canyon
Artist
Joseph Henry Sharp
(American, 1859–1953)
Datec. 1930
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsImage: 30 3/8 x 36 in. (77.2 x 91.4 cm)
Frame: 34 1/2 x 40 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (87.6 x 102.9 x 6.4 cm)
Frame: 34 1/2 x 40 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (87.6 x 102.9 x 6.4 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1999.134
SignedLower right: JH SHARP
InterpretationJoseph Henry Sharp’s Taos Canyon depicts brightly colored trees in a mountainous valley. The title indicates a location near the town of Taos in the north-central region of New Mexico. The autumnal setting, with its rich colors, highlights the region's variety of flora, which ranges from Piñon-juniper to Ponderosa Pine, fir, and spruce. The diagonals of the road and stream lead the eye toward a descending ridge, purple-blue in the distance under fair-weather clouds. In the middle-distance, three small figures on horseback gather, as if in conversation.
Sharp first visited Taos in 1893 and moved there permanently in 1912. He encouraged other artists to join him, and the town soon became a popular artists' colony, attracting both conservative, academically trained artists like Sharp as well as those sympathetic to newer, more modern styles. In 1915, Sharp and six fellow artists established the Taos Society of Artists, a group dedicated to exhibiting and selling their paintings.
Sharp made sektches outdoors and completed paintings in his studio, using a natrualistic style inspired by his academic training in Europe. The deep recession into space, nearly square format, broken brushwork, and solidly realized natural forms in this work all are hallmarks of the conservative but still-puopular styles that persisted among many American artists well into the twentieth century. Taos Canyon may well have been among the many canvases Sharp exhibited in the highly popular traveling exhibitions circulated by the Taos Society before it disbanded in 1928.
Sharp first visited Taos in 1893 and moved there permanently in 1912. He encouraged other artists to join him, and the town soon became a popular artists' colony, attracting both conservative, academically trained artists like Sharp as well as those sympathetic to newer, more modern styles. In 1915, Sharp and six fellow artists established the Taos Society of Artists, a group dedicated to exhibiting and selling their paintings.
Sharp made sektches outdoors and completed paintings in his studio, using a natrualistic style inspired by his academic training in Europe. The deep recession into space, nearly square format, broken brushwork, and solidly realized natural forms in this work all are hallmarks of the conservative but still-puopular styles that persisted among many American artists well into the twentieth century. Taos Canyon may well have been among the many canvases Sharp exhibited in the highly popular traveling exhibitions circulated by the Taos Society before it disbanded in 1928.
America the Beautiful: Landscapes from Home, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 16, 2001–January 13, 2002.
A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003.
Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, August–September 2003.
Highlights from the Collection of the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Union League Club of Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Union League Club of Chicago, Illinois, July 20–October 31, 2004.
A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003.
Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, August–September 2003.
Highlights from the Collection of the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Union League Club of Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Union League Club of Chicago, Illinois, July 20–October 31, 2004.
Bennett Family, Cincinnati, Ohio
Descended in family
Cincinnati Art Galleries, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1990
Donna Neuhoff, Texas
Beltexsan Galleries, Fine American Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas
Sotheby's New York, New York
Berry-Hill Galleries Inc., New York, New York
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1994
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
