Couse, Eanger Irving, 1866-1936

Eanger Irving Couse was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1866. He began to draw at a very young age. He began sketching the Chippewa Indians of his hometown in Michigan. He always loved to listen to the stories about the Indians, an interest which later became the subject of some of his major paintings. Couse began studying art at the Chicago Art Institute, and then moved to Paris in 1884, to study at the Julien Academy, and the School of Beaux Arts. He was a great art student according to his many teachers he had in France. In 1889, he married Virginia Walker, an American art student he met in Paris. After they were married they returned to America and lived at her family's ranch in Oregon. Couse created many paintings of the Northwest Indians during his years in Oregon.

Couse was invited by Joseph Henry Sharp, Ernest Blumenstein and Bert Phillips, to travel to Taos, New Mexico. He immediately fell in love with Taos and the entire Southwest, and Couse made a point to spend the summers there. In 1903, Couse traveled to Arizona, where he produced his rare paintings of the Hopi Indians. By 1928, Eanger Irving Couse decided to permanently reside in Taos. He became very active in the local art scene, becoming one of the six "Taos Founders" of the Taos Society of Artists, a group of legendary artists whose influence is still strongly felt in the art world today. He was elected as the Taos Society of Artist's first president.

Eanger Irving Couses' paintings greatly reflect the New Mexico Native American civilization. His models for most of his New Mexico Indian figure paintings were Ben Lujan and Geronimo Gomez, Taos Pueblo residents. His paintings of Native Americans have a poetic and peaceful tone. Most of his Indian figures were engaged in domestic activity, and their physiques were often emphasized by moonlight.

Couse's paintings have received remarkable national exposure and made Taos a major tourist attraction. Couse created images that were very influential in changing the public's perception of the West. He was a devoted and motivated artist who integrated classical art practices and reinterpreted the West as subject matter. His paintings are still considered the most vivid of his time. His works are exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Smithsonian Institution; the Gilcrease Institute of Art; and the Museum of New Mexico, among many public and private collections around the world.