359

Edwin Willard Deming (1860-1942), View of Native Americans on Horseback
Dimensions: 12 x 16
Framed/base Dimensions: 15 3/4 x 19 3/4 x 2
Signature: signed lower right: To our Friend Evangeline (indecipherable) (artist cipher) EW DEMING

oil on canvas
12 x 16 in.

  • Provenance: Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (label verso)
    From a Private Collection
  • Notes:

    Edwin Willard Deming was born in Ashland, Ohio, and six months later moved to western Illinois. He grew up on prairie land with Sac and Fox Indian playmates, spearing fish, trapping beaver, and learning about horses and firearms. His first painting was done with house paint he had scraped off of thrown away containers. In 1880, Deming’s father sent him to law school in Chicago; he stayed there long enough to confirm that he wanted to be an artist. Soon after he went to New York and enrolled in classes at the Art Students League, remaining there until 1884. He then studied in Paris for one year with Gustav Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre.

    He took his first trip out West in 1887, visiting the Apache and the Pueblo Indians in the southwest and in Oregon. He believed his mission was to paint the North American Indian, “preserving the life of the old, unspoiled Indian”, a debt he believed was owed to the Indian by the white man. Wherever he traveled he sketched, drew, and made extensive notes, enabling him to later document the setting for his paintings. In 1893, he teamed up with fellow artist DeCost Smith and wrote and illustrate two articles for the magazine Outing.

    Therese Deming wrote a series of children’s books that became a basis in school libraries and classrooms. Deming illustrated his wife’s books in Indian life, Indian Child Life, Red Folk and White Folk, American Animal Life. Deming also illustrated a book written by one of his daughters, Alden: Manabozho, the Indian Story of Hiawatha. He died in New York City in 1942. Painter of Indian and animal subjects in the West beginning 1887, sculptor, muralist, illustrator, and writer.

  • Condition: The painting appears to be in good condition with faint craquelure throughout - the paint layer appears stable. The painting was viewed under blacklight and shows inpainting around the perimeter of the painting and small lines and spots scattered throughout. The frame appears to be in very good condition.

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September 13, 2025 10:00 AM MDT
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