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Henry Farny, whose parents moved from France to the United States of America, was a noted painter, draftsman, and illustrator of the 19th century.
Born on July 15, 1847 in Ribeauvillé / Alsace.
Died on December 24, 1916 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Henry Farny, whose story of life almost sounds too adventurous to be believed, had already in its early years been in contact with Indian tribes, the lives of whom he was going to portray later repeatedly. Having found out soon about his love for drawing, before he left for New York in 1865 to become a newspaper illustrator, Farny worked as a ceramic painter and lithographer. A few years later, he managed to finance himself a voyage to Europe. In Rome, he worked under the painter T.B. Read. Signatures on drawings record his journey through Germany and Italy. Before dealing with the ways of life and living conditions in the Indian reservations, Henry Farny already dealt with critical issues like prison scenes. After returning to Cincinnati, he began to research the lives and languages of the various Indian tribes. According to sketches he made in the Sioux reservation, Farny created oil paintings depicting in an impressive way the lives of Indians and their closeness to nature, and creating a critical look at the consequences of the settlement policy. Some years after his adoption of an Indian tribe and the encounter with the Sioux chief Sitting Bull, the artist turned away from this topic because he could not stand the worsening reservation. |
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