Joseph Henry Sharp

Joseph Henry Sharp (1859–1953) was an American painter known for his vivid depictions of Native American life and the landscapes of the American West. A founding member of the Taos Society of Artists, Sharp played a pivotal role in shaping the American Southwest art scene, focusing on preserving the culture, history and people of Native American tribes.

Sharp was born in 1859 in Bridgeport, Ohio. After his complete and permanent hearing loss from a childhood accident, he pursued painting with even greater determination. He first studied at the McMicken School of Design in Cincinnati and later travelled to Europe to continue his education at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, the Royal Academy of Munich and the Académie Julian in Paris. In the French capital, Sharp became influenced both by the Barbizon painters and the Impressionists. His European training provided him with a solid foundation in academic painting techniques, rendering light and shadow with broad brushstroke and painting en plein air.

The idea of painting Native American people and their milieu had always fascinated Sharp. He made his first visit to the west in 1883. In 1897, he began to spend summers in Santa Fe and Taos and by 1899 to spend winters at Crow Agency in Montana.

This experience deeply influenced Sharp’s artistic direction. His works began to reflect a deep respect for and intimate knowledge of the way of life of the tribes. He eventually settled in Taos, New Mexico, in 1909, where he continued to document the daily lives, traditions and customs of Native Americans.

Sharp’s paintings are celebrated for their attention to detail and sensitive portrayals of his subjects. His works are both ethnographically valuable and artistically significant, capturing a way of life that was rapidly disappearing. In addition to his portraits, Sharp also painted dramatic landscapes of the Southwest, from the rolling plains to the rugged mountains.

In 1915, Sharp become one of the six founding members of the Taos Society of Artists, established with the aim to develop Taos internationally as a recognised artistic community. Throughout his prolific career, Sharp produced over 10,000 works of art and received numerous accolades for his contributions to American art. A retrospective of Sharp’s work was held in 1949 at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the largest collection of the artist’s oeuvre can be found today.

Joseph Henry Sharp died in 1953 at the age of 93.