Meet Couse’s Granddaughter

An Eanger Irving Couse painting turned up at ROADSHOW in Madison. Meet Eanger Irving Couse’s granddaughter, Virginia Couse Leavitt!

Jul 20, 2015

BY Sarah K. Elliott

Appraisal: 1920 Eanger Irving Couse Oil

Transcript

The Madison guest who brought in a painting of a Native American man crouching by a campfire during ANTIQUES ROADSHOW's summer tour in 2000 knew nothing about the artwork or its artist. Appraiser Nan Chisholm had good news to share about the Eanger Irving Couse painting, referred to as “The Campfire” on the back of the piece, but of course there’s always more to a story.

Chisholm recently introduced ANTIQUES ROADSHOW to the granddaughter of Eanger Irving Couse, Virginia Couse Leavitt, who was happy to share more about her famous grandfather and this compelling work.

Eanger Irving Couse (1866 – 1936) was one of the founders of the Taos Society of Artists in New Mexico and its first president. Leavitt noted, “My grandfather first arrived in Taos in 1902 and he continued to spend six months of the year here until 1928 when he gave up his winter studio in New York to live in Taos year round.” Leavitt lived in her grandparents’ home in Taos for the first six years of her life, her grandfather having passed away when she was 4. “My personal memories of [Couse] are warm but rather vague. I feel that I know him very well, however, as he has been the focus of my research for twenty years.”

Leavitt informed ROADSHOW that the painting was completed in 1920 and was included that same year in the Taos Society of Artists Circuit Exhibition. At this time it was titled "The Campfire," the same title that was found on the stretcher by Nan Chisholm at Antiques Roadshow. The artist Arthur N. McGeoch was the first to purchase the painting on April 6, 1930, listed as “Moon and Campfire” in Couse’s sales records. Mr. McGeoch was said to have remarked about the work, "I am sure it will always be a source of delight and remind us of the very pleasant time we spent in your studio.”

According to Leavitt, the man in the painting, Ben Lujan###, began posing for Couse when he was 10 years old and continued to do so for another 34 years. “I have warm memories of Ben, my grandfather's favorite model, who was like a father figure to me and my siblings,” said Leavitt.

The home and studio of Eanger Irving Couse and the studio site of Joseph Henry Sharp is now known as the Couse-Sharp Historic Site (Sharp was also a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists). Leavitt explained, “The vision of The Couse Foundation is ‘to be a center for scholarship on E.I. Couse, J.H. Sharp, and the Taos Society of Artists.’ I represent the family on the Board of Directors, and for the last 20 years my husband and I have served as curators.”

And what does Leavitt think of her grandfather’s painting? “Couse was renowned for his paintings of moonlight and firelight. Those that combine both lighting effects are special. I love the way the big moon is shown coming up behind the mountain.”

The painting was given an estimated auction value of $40,000 to $60,000 in 2000. Fifteen years later and with the knowledge that the frame was also designed by Couse, Chisholm now estimates the painting would bring $80,000 to $100,000 at auction.