Editing E. Irving Couse

{{Short description|American painter}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = E. Irving Couse
| image         = Eanger Irving Couse.jpg
| image_size    =
| caption       = Eanger Irving Couse
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = {{birth date |1866|9|3}}
| birth_place   = [[Saginaw, Michigan]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date |1936|4|26}}
| death_place   = [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], U.S.
| nationality   = [[Americans|American]]
| known_for     = [[Painting]]
| training      = [[National Academy of Design]]
| movement      =
| notable_works =
| patrons       =
| awards        = 
| signature     = Signature of Eanger Irving Couse.png
}}

'''Eanger Irving Couse''' (September 3, 1866 – April 26, 1936) was an American artist and a founding member and first president of the [[Taos Society of Artists]]. Born and reared in [[Saginaw, Michigan]], he went to New York City and Paris to study art. While spending summers in Taos, New Mexico, he began to make the paintings of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], [[New Mexico]], and the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]] for which he is best known. He later settled full time in Taos.

His house and studio in Taos have been preserved as the [[Eanger Irving Couse House and Studio—Joseph Henry Sharp Studios]]. The complex is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] and the New Mexico Register of Cultural Properties. His work was also part of the art competitions at the [[1928 Summer Olympics]] and the [[1932 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/921478 |title=E. Irving Couse |work=Olympedia |access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Eanger Irving Couse - Elk-Foot of the Taos Tribe - Google Art Project.jpg|thumbnail|''[[Elk-Foot of the Taos Tribe]]'' (1909)]]

Couse (pronounced to rhyme with "house"<ref>{{cite book |first=Charles Earle |last=Funk |author-link=Charles Earle Funk|title=What's the Name, Please? |publisher=Funk & Wagnalls |year=1936}}</ref>)
was born to a farming family in [[Saginaw, Michigan|Saginaw]], [[Michigan]].  As a boy, he started drawing members of the [[Chippewa]] tribe who lived nearby. He attended local schools as a child and continued to work at art.
[[Image:The Historian (The How and Why Library).jpg|thumb|upright|left|''The Historian'', by E. Irving Couse, painted in 1902]]
Couse left Michigan for professional art studies at the [[Art Institute of Chicago]] and the [[National Academy of Design]], [[New York City|New York]]. He went to [[Paris]], where he studied at the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] and [[Académie Julian]] under [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]].  He lived in [[France]] for 10 years, painting mostly landscapes of the [[Normandy]] coast. Between 1893 and 1896, he lived at the [[Etaples art colony]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cousefoundation.org/eicouse.php |title=Eanger Irving Couse / Biography |work=Couse-Sharp.org |publisher=Couse Foundation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202223338/http://www.cousefoundation.org/eicouse.php |archive-date=December 2, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> where he painted its streets and fisher folk, including ''Coastal Scene, Etaples''.

==Artistic career in the United States==
[[File:Couse contentment.jpg|thumbnail|''Couse contentment'']]

After his return to the United States, Couse first lived in New York.  He spent time in [[Taos, New Mexico]] during the summers. At the turn of the 19th century, the Southwest, and New Mexico in particular, attracted numerous artists and writers because it remained untouched by national expansion efforts dictated by the American policy of [[Manifest Destiny]]. The artists and writers of this era wanted to capture the last vestiges of the Old West before it disappeared altogether. During his time in New Mexico, Couse studied and painted the lives and culture of the Taos Indians, a [[Puebloan peoples|Pueblo]] tribe. He began to show his paintings of Native American life and earned his first solo show in 1891.

In 1911 Couse was elected to the [[National Academy of Design]].<ref name="New International Encyclopedia">{{cite book |chapter=Couse, E (anger) Irving (1866 – ) |title=New International Encyclopedia |edition=2nd |volume=6 |publisher=Dodd, Mead |year=1914 |page=190}}</ref>  He also became active in the [[Taos art colony]]. In 1915, Couse was one of the six founding members of the [[Taos Society of Artists]], and was elected first president.  Another founding member was the artist [[J. H. Sharp]], who adapted a chapel near Couse's house as a studio. Later Sharp built a combined house and studio on the land.  The adjacent properties are recognized jointly as the Couse/Sharp Historic Site, and are preserved and operated by the Couse Foundation.

Among Couse's works in public galleries are ''Elk-Foot of the Taos Tribe''<ref>{{cite web |last=Couse |first=Eanger Irving |title=Elk-Foot of the Taos Tribe |url=http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=5829 |work=Smithsonian American Art Museum |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=2012-08-10}}</ref> ([[Smithsonian American Art Museum]]); ''Taos Pueblo - Moonlight''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sam.nmartmuseum.org/view/objects/asitem/People$00403063/0?t:state:flow=1ad86b38-c59a-4f68-9f0d-fd0251a41940 |title=Related: Taos Pueblo - Moonlight |work=Searchable Art Museum |publisher=New Mexico Museum of Art |access-date=2013-07-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809200505/http://sam.nmartmuseum.org/view/objects/asitem/People$00403063/0?t:state:flow=1ad86b38-c59a-4f68-9f0d-fd0251a41940 |archive-date=August 9, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  ([[New Mexico Museum of Art]]); ''The Forest Camp'' ([[Brooklyn Museum of Art]]); ''The Pottery Maker'' ([[Two Red Roses Foundation]]); ''The Tom-Tom Maker'' ([[Lotos Club]], New York); ''Medicine Fires'' (Montclair Gallery, New Jersey); and ''Shapanagons, a Chippewa Chief'' ([[Detroit Museum of Art]]).<ref name="New International Encyclopedia"/>

Of these works, ''[[Elk-Foot of the Taos Tribe]]'', painted in the summer of 1909, is considered Couse's masterwork. The painting was purchased for the United States national art collection by the well-known art collector [[William T. Evans]] and is now displayed in the collections of the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]]. Elk-foot, whose anglicized name was Jerry Mirabal, began posing for Couse in 1907 and was one of the painters favorite subjects because of his "physical beauty and ideal features."<ref>{{cite book |first=Virginia Couse |last=Leavitt |title=Eanger Irving Couse: Image Maker for America |year=1991 |publisher=The Albuquerque Museum |location=Albuquerque, NM }}</ref>

===Early works===
[[File:E. Irving Couse, 'The Captive', 1891.jpg|right|thumb|''The Captive'', a controversial work from 1891]]

Couse's ''The Captive'' was shown in 1891 at his first solo exhibition, held at the [[Portland Art Association]] in Oregon, and then at the Paris Salon of 1892.  This large, "salon size" painting was the first Native American subject by Couse, who later achieved fame in the United States for his paintings of the [[indigenous peoples]] of New Mexico.  In 1991, ''The Captive'' was included in the [[National Museum of American Art]] exhibition entitled ''The West as America,'' which created controversy by its curatorial interpretation of the artists' meanings and intents.{{cn|date=May 2022}}{{clarify|date=May 2022|reason=Artists' or artist's?}}  Art historians have explored the painting's racial, sexual, and social motives in the context of American society at the time.<ref>{{cite book |last=Komanecky |first=Michael K. |title=Phoenix Art Museum: Collection Highlights |publisher=Harry N. Abrams, Inc. |location=New York |year=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/phoenixartmuseum0000unse/page/60 60] |isbn=978-0810932456 |url=https://archive.org/details/phoenixartmuseum0000unse/page/60 }}</ref>

In 1899, Couse exhibited three paintings at the [[Boston Art Club]]: ''A Cayuse Indian'' (oil), ''Maternity'' (oil), and ''Yakima Encampment'' (oil).  His address at that time was the Van Dyck Studios, 939 8th Avenue, New York City.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leavitt|first=Virginia Couse|title=Eanger Irving Couse: The Life and Times of an American Artist, 1866–1936|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=2019|location=Norman, OK|pages=146}}</ref>

===Later works===
[[File:Couse kachinapainter.jpg|thumb|''The Kachina Painter'' (1917)]]

* ''Mending the War Bonnet''
* ''Making Pottery'' (awarded $500 National Academy of Design [[Carnegie Prize]])
* ''Roasting Corn'' (1904)
* ''Rushing Water'' (1912)
* ''Twilight, Taos Pueblo'' (1913)
* ''Taos Canyon Camp''
* ''Taos Pueblo - Moonlight (1914)<ref>{{cite web |title=Taos Pueblo - Moonlight |work=New Mexico Art Tells New Mexico History |url=http://online.nmartmuseum.org/nmhistory/art-activities/taos-pueblo-moonlight.html |publisher=New Mexico Museum of Art |access-date=2014-01-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504091928/http://online.nmartmuseum.org/nmhistory/art-activities/taos-pueblo-moonlight.html |archive-date=May 4, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 
* ''The Kachina Painter'' (1917)
* The Quiver Maker (1918){{clear|left}}

==Legacy and honors==
His works won recognition and numerous awards from such institutions as the following:  the [[Paris Salon]], the [[Art Institute of Chicago]], the National Academy of Design (Second [[Hallgarten Prize]], 1900; First Hallgarten Prize, 1902; Altman Prize, 1916); and the [[Salmagundi Club]] (Isidor prize, 1917).  He was awarded the Lippincott prize from the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]] in [[Philadelphia]] (1921).  He received awards from the American Exposition, Buffalo; the [[Boston Art Club]], the [[Corcoran Gallery]], and the [[Panama Pacific International Exposition]] in San Francisco (silver medal, 1915). His works are held in many museums in the United States and around the world, including a collection from [[Rockefeller family|David and Peggy Rockefeller]], now in the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Acquisitions of the month: October 2018 |url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/acquisitions-of-the-month-october-2018/ |website=Apollo Magazine|date=November 9, 2018 }}</ref>

Two buildings he used as studios are part of the [[Eanger Irving Couse House and Studio—Joseph Henry Sharp Studios]] listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] and the [[New Mexico Register of Cultural Properties]].<ref name=Couse/> This is one of 30 sites recognized as an "Historic Artist's Home and Studio Associate Site" by the [[National Trust for Historic Preservation]].<ref name=Couse>{{cite web |url=http://couse-sharp.org/ |title=The Couse-Sharp Historic Site |work=Couse-Sharp.org |publisher=Couse Foundation}}</ref> In 2001 the Couse Foundation was formed to restore and preserve the properties.  It operates the historic site of the two artists and offers scheduled tours.

==Paintings==
*''[http://www.ou.edu/artcollections/collections/fleischaker/couse-bird_jar.html The Bird Jar]''
*''[http://www.phxart.org/slideshow/index.html#/COL/72157606057056354/2650331485/ The Captive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128210415/http://www.phxart.org/slideshow/index.html#/COL/72157606057056354/2650331485/ |date=January 28, 2019 }}'' (1891), [[Phoenix Art Museum]]
*''[http://www.ou.edu/artcollections/collections/thams/couse_fish.html The Housewife Looking at the Fisherman's Catch]''
*''[http://www.ou.edu/artcollections/collections/thams/couse_ambush.html In Ambush]''
*''[http://www.ou.edu/artcollections/collections/thams/couse_love.html Love Song (aka Moonlight)]''
*''[http://www.ou.edu/artcollections/collections/american/couse_medicine.html The Medicine Maker]''
*''[http://www.ou.edu/fjjma/home/main/fall_2008/southwestern/Couse.html Pottery Vendor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100224054021/http://www.ou.edu/fjjma/home/main/fall_2008/southwestern/Couse.html |date=February 24, 2010 }}'' (1916)

<gallery widths="160px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
'Autumn Moon' by E. Irving Couse, 1927.jpg|''Autumn Moon'' 
'The Blanket Mender' by Eanger Irving Couse, oil on canvas, c. 1934.jpg|''The Blanket Mender''
WLA brooklynmuseum Lovers Indian Love Song.jpg|''Indian Love Song''
'Firelight' by Irving E. Couse, 8 x 10 in, oil on board.jpg|''Firelight''
Couse smokeceremony2.jpg|''Smokeceremony''
Eanger Irving Couse - Indian by Firelight.jpg| ''Indian by Firelight''
'Indian Camp in the Cascade Mountains' by Eanger Irving Couse, 1899.JPG|''Indian Camp in the Cascade Mountains''
'Indian at Sacred Lake', by Eanger Irving Couse, El Paso Museum of Art.JPG|''Indian at Sacred Lake''
</gallery>

==Death==
[[File:Sierra Vista Cemetery 7.jpg|thumb|right|Couse's marker at Sierra View Cemetery]]

Couse died in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]] in 1936.  He is buried at Sierra View Cemetery in Taos.<ref>[http://www.parsonsart.com/home/e-irving-couse Parsons]</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline|E. Irving Couse}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Couse, E. Irving}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American painters]]
[[Category:American male painters]]
[[Category:20th-century American painters]]
[[Category:American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts]]
[[Category:Artists from Michigan]]
[[Category:Artists from Taos, New Mexico]]
[[Category:Artists of the American West]]
[[Category:American modern artists]]
[[Category:People from Saginaw, Michigan]]
[[Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:Taos Society of Artists]]
[[Category:National Academy of Design members]]
[[Category:19th-century American male artists]]
[[Category:Olympic competitors in art competitions]]
[[Category:20th-century American male artists]]