Estimate: $50,000 - $80,000
American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists
Auction: June 5, 2016 3:00:00 PM EDT
Signed and dated 'Farny/ 1912' bottom right, gouache on paper
9 1/4 x 8 in. (23.5 x 20.3cm)
Provenance: The Collection of Anna Knapp Garrard, Cincinnati, Ohio.
By descent in the family to her grandson.
The Collection of Lewis Garrard Wilson.
By descent in the family.
Private Collection, Virginia.
NOTE:
Henry François Farny was particularly well-known for depicting Native American life in the nineteenth century. President Theodore Roosevelt was a great admirer, and once stated to Farny: "The Nation owes you a great debt. It does not realize now, but it will someday. You are preserving phases of American history that rapidly are passing away."
Born in Alsace, France, Farny immigrated to the United States at the age of six, settling in Warren, Pennsylvania, close to a Seneca reservation. His friendly relationship with the Seneca tribe had a deep impact and marked the beginning of his fascination with Native American life.
As demonstrated in "Moving Camp", Farny is recognized for his skilled use of color and compositions drenched in daylight; the asymmetrical arrangement is characteristic of his finest work. Farny's oeuvre conveys his nostalgia and desire to preserve the details of the quickly vanishing tribes he came to know. Yet, he depicts his subject matter without any explicit dramatization or romanticism, choosing candid scenes of figures in a natural, open landscape.