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Eanger Irving Couse
1866–1936
BirthplaceSaginaw, Michigan, United States of America
Death placeAlbuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America
BiographyEanger Irving Couse specialized in romantic interpretations of western subjects, especially the Native American. Growing up in Saginaw, Michigan, he gained firsthand knowledge of the local Chipewa Indians. Couse studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and then moved to New York to enroll at the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design. In 1886, he departed for Paris to study with famed French academic painter William Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905). Couse remained in Paris for much of the following decade, developing his talents at drawing and at depicting the human figure. By 1891, his images of French peasants in idealized landscapes, many painted at the Picardy fishing village of Etaples, were being accepted for the prestigious Paris Salon exhibitions.
In the 1890s, American critics faulted Couse’s work as too European in terms of subject matter. In response, he turned to the theme of the American Indian. Visits to his wife’s family’s ranch in Washington State—where he had contact with the Klikitat, Cayuse, and Yakima Indians—offered him abundant material for his scenes of ceremonies and everyday activities. He also portrayed individual figures in their traditional dress, which he rendered with close attention to detail.
By the late 1890s, eastern artists had “discovered” the remote village of Taos, New Mexico. Couse followed them there in the summer of 1902, and soon he was a member of a lively local artists’ community. He established a studio in Taos in 1909; six years later, he became a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists, an organization for promoting the work of the area’s artists nationally. Couse spent his summers in Taos while maintaining residence in New York City during the winters; in 1927 he finally moved permanently to Taos.
Authentically detailed but idealized, Couse’s paintings of Native Americans found favor among his contemporaries and brought the artist national exposure and several prestigious awards. Beginning in 1915, he spent two decades creating calendar illustrations for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that broadcast his art across America. Couse died in Taos after a long and successful career, having produced some fifteen hundred paintings.
In the 1890s, American critics faulted Couse’s work as too European in terms of subject matter. In response, he turned to the theme of the American Indian. Visits to his wife’s family’s ranch in Washington State—where he had contact with the Klikitat, Cayuse, and Yakima Indians—offered him abundant material for his scenes of ceremonies and everyday activities. He also portrayed individual figures in their traditional dress, which he rendered with close attention to detail.
By the late 1890s, eastern artists had “discovered” the remote village of Taos, New Mexico. Couse followed them there in the summer of 1902, and soon he was a member of a lively local artists’ community. He established a studio in Taos in 1909; six years later, he became a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists, an organization for promoting the work of the area’s artists nationally. Couse spent his summers in Taos while maintaining residence in New York City during the winters; in 1927 he finally moved permanently to Taos.
Authentically detailed but idealized, Couse’s paintings of Native Americans found favor among his contemporaries and brought the artist national exposure and several prestigious awards. Beginning in 1915, he spent two decades creating calendar illustrations for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that broadcast his art across America. Couse died in Taos after a long and successful career, having produced some fifteen hundred paintings.