Henry Francois Farny (1847 - 1916) France
Pencil on Paper
Measure 16 1/2"in H x 11"in W and 24 3/4"in H x 18 3/4"in W with frame

Known for: Indians, frontier life, illustrator, pottery decoration
Biography: In 1881, a young artist from Cincinnati named Henry Farny made a 1000-mile trip up the Missouri River to the Standing Rock Agency of the Sioux nation in the Dakota Territory. He had hopes of meeting the great chief Sitting Bull and finding out more about the Ghost Dance movement, which had fascinated him when he first heard accounts of it. Although Sitting Bull was no longer at the agency, Farny nevertheless came away deeply impressed with what he had seen. He was quoted in a Cincinnati newspaper on his return as saying: "The plains, the buttes, the whole country and its people, are fuller with of material for the artist than any country in Europe." He brought to his Cincinnati studio a number of artifacts, sketches, and photographs, which he proceeded to translate into his finished works. In 1882-83 he furnished the illustrations for Frank H, Cushing's noted articles on the Zuni Indians, which appeared in Century magazine. He also witnessed the ceremonies marking the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway, where he finally met Sitting Bull. In 1884, he journeyed to the Montana Territory and went on a voyage down the Missouri River to historic Fort Benton, which before the days of the railroad had been the terminus of steamboat navigation. He visited Fort Sill in the Oklahoma Territory in 1894 at the invitation of General Nelson A. Miles to record the remnants of the Apache and their notorious leader Geronimo. Everywhere Farny traveled during this period, there was ample evidence that a great era of American history had passed. The typical Farny style can be categorized by an almost photographic exactitude of detail, deliberate and precise modeling, and a static, carefully worked sense of composition. Every detail is intensified by its clarity; every nuance of color is cool and sharp. The alertness and stillness of Farny's scenes is almost palpable; the mood of expectation has been heightened by the artist's crackling realism.

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