Governor’s Son

Additional Information

Provenance:
The Russell, Great Falls, MT, 2023

Few places in the Southwest have been painted as thoroughly as the kiva fireplace inside the studio of Joseph Henry Sharp in Taos, New Mexico. The fireplace, the wall next to it and the round window with the square frame have featured prominently in dozens of Sharp’s paintings, including some of his masterpieces. The famous fireplace makes an appearance here in Governor’s Son, which shows a single figure, his back to the firelight as he holds a drum. Sharp had numerous studios, including the nearby Luna Chapel and also studios on the Crow Agency in Montana, but none are as identifiable as his main Taos studio, which is now part of the Couse-Sharp Historic Site in Taos. It was the fireplace and its soft glow that energized Sharp to paint indoors as he explored different ways of capturing light in paint. Marie Watkins, who writes an essay in The Life & Art of Joseph Henry Sharp, notes that Sharp was invigorated by these paintings. “With the element of light from fire, Sharp tapped into something primal, a dialogue between light and darkness that reached back to early humans who created and viewed cave paintings by firelight.”

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Please note that the first unframed photo is most accurate for color. Framed photographs are to show the frame and are not color corrected to the painting.

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