Eanger Irving Couse

Early Artist of the American Southwest.

Works depicted the Indians outdoor activities,
such as weaving and hunting. 
(1866-1936)

Couse was born in Saginaw, Michigan, where he first started drawing the Chippewa Indians who lived nearby. His lifelong pursuit of painting Native Americans was kindled by the beauty and tranquility of the local Chippewa and Ojibwa cultures.

Couse chose a career in art at an early age, attending the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Academy of Design,
New York. Then, as was the dream of many young artists of the time, he left for Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian under Bouguereau and Robert Fleury.

He lived in France 10 years, where he painted charming scenes of the Normandy coast.

In Paris, Couse married a fellow artist whose family ranch in Washington State provided him with access to a number of Indian tribes. Lyrical portraits of the Klikitat, Yakima, and Umatilla, painted in the Barbizon style, were his first attempts at truly American subjects. His historical narratives of the West brought him great acclaim at the Paris Salon exhibitions.

Finding French peasant scenes and European landscapes more saleable, Couse eturned to a successful career in France. However, upon the advice of fellow artists Joseph Henry Sharp and Ernest Blumenschein, Couse made his first visit to Taos in 1902. Taos was his inspiration and became his permanent home.

After his return to America he became a founding member of the Taos artists colony in Taos, New Mexico. In 1912 when the Taos Society of Artists was formed, Couse was elected its first President He devoted himself to depicting the life and habits of the Taos Indians, a pueblo tribe in New Mexico.

His works reveals the poetical and philosophical rather than the savage and warlike side of the Indians, and his skillfully executed pictures are full of sentiment.

His works are held in many museums in the United States and around the world. He was a dedicated and prolific artist, and his paintings are still regarded as the most poetic renderings of a vanished time.Couse died in Taos, New Mexico in 1936

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Visit the Couse Foundation