Henry François Farny (15 July 1847, Ribeauvillé – 23 December 1916) was an American painter and illustrator. His work was centered on the life of Native Americans in the 19th-century United States.[1]

Henry Farny (right) with Frank Duveneck in 1874
Obsidian mountain in the Yellowstone, 1897

Biography

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Farny's family left France in 1853 to emigrate to the United States. The family moved to Warren, Pennsylvania, near a Seneca reservation. As a child, he learned the lore of the woods from Seneca Indians, who came from their reservation to hunt in the neighborhood where his father lived. In his boyhood, he was fond of covering the walls of his father's board-house with pictures of animals, birds, and Indians, which he scratched with nails or framed by aid of burnt sticks.[1]

Around 1859, the Farny family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Attracted by painting and drawing, the young man became an illustrator for magazines and books for children. When he was 18 years old, Harper's Weekly published a double-page view of Cincinnati he made.

Between 1867 and 1870, he took private lessons from Albert Bierstadt in Düsseldorf. By the time Farny had arrived at Düsseldorf, and began attending Düsseldorf academy in the late 1860s ,the Düsseldorf school of painting had already begun to lose its once high acclaim among most of the American populace.

One part of America where this was not the case was in Cincinnati, where the realist objectives taught there were still being held in high esteem. Despite this, upon his return to Cincinnati in 1870, Farny, who had been studying abroad, came home to a minimally responsive demand by Cincinnatians for his paintings. He used his newfound skills in the service of poster painting and other odd jobs. In 1873, this all changed when he was commissioned by the chamber of commerce to depict in drawing the different stages of pork packing in Cincinnati.

In 1881, inspired by the developing market for Indian paintings, Farny traveled up the Missouri River, making sketches, taking notes and photography, and collecting artifacts. On several more trips West, he did the same, until his Cincinnati studio contained enough material for almost any Indian subject he wished to illustrate.[2] Upon his return to Cincinnati, he remarked: "The plains, the buttes, the whole country and its people are fuller of material for the artist than any country in Europe."[3]

About 100 paintings were inspired by Farny's western trips in the 1880s. Ration Day at Standing Rock Agency, The Song of the Talking Wire, and The Last Vigil are among his most famous. His understanding of the Indian's plight is often apparent in his work.[3]

Farny was one of the founding members of the Cincinnati Art Club and served as its second president from 1892–94.[4]

Theodore Roosevelt once said to Farny: "Farny, the nation owes you a great debt. It does not realize it now, but it will some day. You are preserving for future generations phases of American history that are rapidly passing away."[1]

He died in Cincinnati in 1916.[5] His obituary appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer on December 25, 1916.

Legacy

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Farny's art continues to gain in popularity, and most serious public as well as private Western art collections include at least one painting. Recently, his Southern Plains Indian Warrior sold at Bonhams for £224,097 (US$362,500) - more than three times its original estimated value.[6][7]

Artworks

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American Gallery: Henry Farney (1847-1916)[8] Selected artworks

Year Title Image Dimensions Collection Comments
1878 The Silent Guest,
oil on canvas
  40.2 in × 30.1 in (102.2 cm × 76.5 cm) Cincinnati Art Museum,
Cincinnati, OH
IAP 40800019
1885 The Captive,
gouache/watercolor
 
color image Archived 2013-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
22.3 in × 40.0 in (56.7 cm × 101.6 cm) Cincinnati Art Museum,
Cincinnati, OH
IAP 40800021
1887 The Unwelcome Guests,
oil on canvas
  38.0 in × 48.3 in (96.5 cm × 122.7 cm) Cincinnati Art Museum,
Cincinnati, OH
IAP 40800949
1888 The Water Carriers
(or Drawing Water),
watercolor
  8.4 in × 16.1 in (21.3 cm × 40.9 cm) IAP 62641434
1890 Hunting Camp on the Plains,
oil on canvas
  22.1 in × 38.6 in (56.1 cm × 98.0 cm) Cincinnati Art Museum,
Cincinnati, OH
IAP 40800950
1891 Indian Brave,
watercolor
  10 in × 6 in (25.4 cm × 15.2 cm) IAP 63003525
1892 Renegade Apaches,
oil on canvas
  32.6 in × 22.6 in (82.9 cm × 57.5 cm) Cincinnati Art Museum,
Cincinnati, OH
IAP 40800011
1895 Conspiracy,
watercolor
 
color image
15.4 in × 9.6 in (39.1 cm × 24.4 cm) American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY
IAP 59040012
1896 Chief Spotted Tail
(1896?), watercolor
  10 in × 7 in (25.4 cm × 17.8 cm)
or
10.3 in × 15.1 in (26.2 cm × 38.4 cm)
Subject: Chief Spotted Tail (1823-1881), Brulé, branch of Sioux tribe. IAP 82190580 IAP 86040016
1896 Pastures New,
watercolor
color image 12.3 in × 18.3 in (31.2 cm × 46.5 cm) American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY
IAP 59040013
1899 Something Stirring,
gouache/watercolor
 
color image
12.5 in × 9.5 in (31.8 cm × 24.1 cm) American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY
IAP 59040011
1899 Cheyenne Scout  
Christie's
1902 Big Game in Sight,
gouache/watercolor
 
color image
10.6 in × 5.6 in (26.9 cm × 14.2 cm) American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY
IAP 59040005
1900 The Old Buffalo Trail,
watercolor
 
color image
28.5 in × 20.5 in (72.4 cm × 52.1 cm) American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY
IAP 59040015
1902 Indian Elk Hunting,
oil on canvas
  Cincinnati Art Museum,
Cincinnati, OH
1904 The Song of the Talking Wire,
oil on canvas
  Taft Museum of Art
1905 Fording a Stream
(or Breaking a Pony;
or Fording the Stream), oil on canvas
  21 in × 32 in (53.3 cm × 81.3 cm) IAP 43590039
1906 The Last of the Herd,
oil on canvas
  22.1 in × 38.6 in (56.1 cm × 98.0 cm) Cincinnati Art Museum,
Cincinnati, OH
IAP 40800951
1906 Rounded Up, by God
(or Rounded up by God) (1906?),
oil
 
color image
40 in × 22 in (101.6 cm × 55.9 cm) American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY
IAP 59040006
1909 On the Trail Home
(or On the Home Trail),
oil
color image 14 in × 24 in (35.6 cm × 61.0 cm) American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY
IAP 59040007
1910 Pere Marquette
(or Into the Unknown),
oil
 
color image
41.5 in × 23 in (105.4 cm × 58.4 cm) American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY
IAP 59040008
1911 The Moment of Suspense
(or A Moment of Suspense),
oil
 
color image
24 in × 16 in (61.0 cm × 40.6 cm) IAP 86040041
1912 Departure for the Buffalo Hunt,
oil on canvas
  22 in × 32 in (55.9 cm × 81.3 cm) IAP 86040032 IAP 8C280012
Fort Totten Trail,
watercolor
  8.3 in × 15 in (21.1 cm × 38.1 cm) IAP 63005226
The Thunder Horse,
oil
color image 16.6 in × 24 in (42.2 cm × 61.0 cm) American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming,
Laramie, WY
IAP 59040014
Silent Guest,
oil
11.7 in × 8.3 in (29.8 cm × 21.0 cm) IAP 61515285

References

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  1. ^ a b c Clark, S. J. (1912). Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912, Volume 2. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. 449. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  2. ^ "Henry F. Farny". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  3. ^ a b Dawdy, Doris Ostrander (1974). Artists of the American West. Sage Books. p. 84. ISBN 0-8040-0607-5.
  4. ^ "Past Presidents". Cincinnati Art Club. Retrieved 2016-03-28.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Levy, Florence Nightingale (1917). American Art Directory, Volume 14. The American Federation of the Arts. p. 322.
  6. ^ "Bonhams : Henry F. Farny (American, 1847-1916) Southern Plains Indian warrior, 1894 16 x 11in". www.bonhams.com. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  7. ^ "Bonhams : Newly discovered masterwork brings $362,500 during May auction at Bonhams". www.bonhams.com. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  8. ^ Henry Farney, American Gallery – 19th Century, 2023

Further reading

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