b. 1859 d. 1953
Site Affiliation: Couse-Sharp Historic Site
Sharp was born in Bridgeport, Ohio, to Irish immigrants. At 12, he drowned in a river but was revived; an ear infection subsequently left him completely deaf. He studied at the McMicken School of Design in Cincinnati, and eventually at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Royal Academy of Munich, and Académie Julian in Paris. Upon his return to the States, he taught at the Cincinnati Art Academy. He married Addie Byram in 1892. In 1897, they began to spend summers in Santa Fe and Taos and by 1899 to spend winters in Montana, painting landscapes and portraits of Native American people. In 1913, Addie passed away and two years later Sharp married her sister, Louise. He was a founder of the Taos Society of Artists. The prolific Sharp, who died in 1953, is best known for his realistic portrayals of Indigenous people and floral still lifes.
Primary Medium: Painting
Primary Stylistic Term: Realism, American Impressionism, American Western Art
HAHS Affiliations: Sharp was a close friend of E.I. Couse, with whom he founded the Taos Society of Artists. The two families lived on the same compound which is now the Couse-Sharp Historic Site.
Fun Fact: Sharp was deaf from a young age. He preferred to communicate using a small notebook and pencil. Couse’s granddaughter, who still lives at CSHS, recalls that if they were visiting on the portal (porch) of an evening, he would eventually write, “Time to go in—it has gotten too dark for me to hear.”
Recommended Reading: In Poetic Silence: The Floral Paintings of Joseph Henry Sharp by Thomas Minckler (2010); The Life and Art of Joseph Henry Sharp, ed. Peter H. Hassrick (2019)