Joseph H. Sharp Artist Bio

Joseph H. Sharp (1859-1953)

Joseph H. Sharp was born in 1859 in Bridgeport, Ohio. When he was 12, his father died, leaving the family with almost no income. While still in school, Sharp went to work in a nail mill and copper shop, giving his earnings to his mother. Two years later, his continued hearing loss had made school impossible, and so he quit entirely and moved to Cincinnati, where he lived with his aunt. At 14, he worked and supported himself entirely, still sent money to his mother, and managed to save enough to enroll in art classes at Mickmicken University in Cincinnati.

In the late 19th century, studying in Europe was still considered compulsory for any aspiring artist, and after 8 years of working, and studying when he could, Sharp had saved enough extra money to travel to Europe, and spent two years at the Antwerp Academy studying in the realist tradition; history painting and portraiture.

In the summer of 1893, Joseph Henry Sharp and John Hauser, a fellow artist and teacher from Cincinnati, rented a wagon in Santa Fe and set out to explore the pueblos of northern New Mexico. After a short visit to Tesuque Pueblo and a week at San Juan Pueblo, they proceeded to Taos by way of the wagon road that ran along the Rio Grande River.

Just prior to 1900, he went to the Sioux country in southeastern Montana, and traveled throughout the Plains country doing hundreds of Indian paintings. A year later, President Theodore Roosevelt had his Indian Commissioners build Sharp a studio and cabin at the Crow Agency on the old Custer battlefield. Today this cabin is in the permanent collection of The Buffalo Bill Historic Society in Cody Wyoming.

In 1902, Sharp began spending several months each year in Taos, painting the Pueblo Indians, and in 1909 he acquired a permanent studio there. In 1912, he became a charter member of the Taos Society of Artists. Sharp's accuracy in depicting the differences between various Indian tribes--in facial structures, costumes, artifacts and ceremonials--make his work as highly prized by anthropologists as by art lovers.

For more information on Sharp, see Teepee Smoke a new look at the life and work of J. H. Sharp.