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  • Eanger Irving Couse
    Sep 03, 1866 - Apr 26, 1936
  • The Call of the Flute - Eanger Irving Couse was One of the more accomplished figure painters of the original Taos Society of Artists, His lifelong pursuit of painting Native Americans was kindled by the beauty and tranquility of the local Chippewa and Ojibwa cultures. The training he received in Europe, particularly under Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury, influenced the measured studio style he practiced for the rest of his life.
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The Call of the Flute
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  • The Call of the Flute

  • Eanger Irving Couse
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  • 1922
    Oil on canvas
    24 x 29 inches (61.0 x 73.7 cm)
    Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, United States.

    E. Irving Couse's The Call of the Flute from 1922 embodies the finest qualities of his mature work: the romantic subject of the contemplative lone Indian in nature; dramatic light, accentuated by a dusk setting and distant campfire glow; and a tonal blue-green palette creating a poetic atmosphere. Equally noteworthy, The Call of the Flute has remained in the same Houston, Texas, family since its purchase in 1923. Accompanying the painting is a photograph on whose verso Couse noted, "This painting size 24 x 29 in. entitled 'The Call of the Flute' was painted by me at Taos, New Mexico, in 1922 & is an excellent example of my work of that character."

    In 1922, Couse was at the height of his career, having fully established himself within the Taos art community. After decades of training in illustrious institutions, including the Chicago Art Institute, National Academy of Design in New York, and Académie Julian in Paris, in 1902 he first heard about Taos through his friend and fellow artist Ernest Blumenschein, who described the incomparable light and fresh subjects that the town's environs had to offer. Enticed, Couse and his wife, artist Virginia Walker, began spending their summers in Taos, all too happy to leave behind the rat race of New York. In 1910, they refurbished a Spanish monastery there into a home and studio. Five years later, the Taos Society of Artists was formed, and Couse was elected its first president. His paintings from this period readily adopted a brighter palette and indigenous subjects, particularly the Pueblo Indians, whose gentle demeanor and artistic practices reminded him of the Chippewa Indians he had drawn as a boy in Saganaw, Michigan. Couse's celebrity in Taos continued to grow well after his family permanently settled there in 1927, due in large measure to the patronage of the Santa Fe Railroad, which published over twenty of his paintings on the cover of its annual calendar.

    Couse repeated two primary themes in his Taos paintings: the Pueblo craftsman weaving, potting, or making jewelry in a domestic environment, and the Pueblo "naturalist" outdoors by a stream, either fishing, playing a flute, or meditating. In The Call of the Flute, one of the latter types, Couse depicts a favorite model, Ben Lujan, squatting on the banks of a river and softly playing his flute, the moonlight etching his idealized body against a backdrop of pine trees. In the background, the faint glow of a campfire intensifies the overall lyrical effect, while underscoring the Indian's momentary and intentional separation from community. Couse's attention to the sitter's physique and the details of his breechcloth and leggings (a costume mixture from various tribes) reflects his academic training under William-Adolphe Bouguereau at the Académie Julian. Indeed, preferring to paint in the studio rather than en plein air, Couse carefully arranged the elements of his compositions, using photography as a guide and posing his models with his collection of Native American artifacts. Although Couse often painted Pueblo Indians playing flutes, The Call of the Flute, in situating the sensitive musician within a moody, twilight setting, is one of his most evocative works.

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Other paintings by Eanger Irving Couse:

The Belt Maker
The Belt Maker
The Butterfly
The Butterfly
The Call of the Flute 2
The Call of the Flute 2
The Campfire
The Campfire
Eanger Irving CouseEanger Irving Couse was born in Saginaw, Michigan. His lifelong pursuit of painting Native Americans was kindled by the beauty and tranquility of the local Chippewa and Ojibwa cultures. Couse chose a career in art at an early age, studying at the Chicago Art Institute, the National Academy of Design in New York, and, as was the dream of many young artists of the time, at the Académie Julian in Paris. The training he received in Europe, particularly under Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury, influenced the measured studio style he practiced for the rest of his life.

In Paris, Couse married a fellow artist whose family ranch in Washington State provided him with access to a number of Indian tribes. Lyrical portraits of the Klikitat, Yakima, and Umatilla, painted in the Barbizon style, were his first attempts at this truly American subject. His historical narratives of the West brought him great acclaim at the Paris Salon exhibitions.

Finding French peasant scenes and European landscapes more saleable, Couse returned to a successful career in France. However, upon the advice of fellow artists, Joseph Henry Sharp and Ernest Blumenschein, Couse made his first visit to Taos in 1902. Though Couse maintained a studio in Manhattan during the winter months until 1928, Taos was his inspiration and became his permanent home.

Couse was elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design in 1911. His paintings are represented in numerous museums and private collections including the Detroit Institute of Art, the Metropolitan Museum and the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. Through the many paintings created for the railroad, his painting received national exposure and brought recognition to Taos. Couse created images that were highly influential in changing the public's perception of the West and many are regarded as poetic renderings of a vanished time.