Name: Nancy K. Anderson
Occupation: Curator of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art
Residence: Northwest D.C.
Why I chose this picture: This small painting is a recent gift to the National Gallery, which makes it special for us.
It’s grisaille — a painting in black, white and shades of gray. It’s quite likely that Brush’s full-scale paintings have grisaille images underneath, because this is the way he was taught to paint when he was studying abroad. Color was applied later and on top. The painting was probably done not long after Brush arrived in Wyoming in 1882, and this individual was clearly sitting in front of him.
He’s looking directly at the artist. There’s a kind of engagement that’s not common in these paintings that I find very intriguing. Brush was living among the Shoshone and Arapahoe people on the Wind River Reservation when he did this. Later he used “life studies” like “An Arapahoe Boy” to compose studio paintings. These were compositions that he conjured from his imagination rather than from events or people that he was seeing directly. From field studies, like this engaging portrait, Brush went on to complete an entire series of Indian paintings.
If you go
“George de Forest Brush: The Indian Paintings” at the National Gallery of Art
Through Jan. 4, 2009
National Gallery of Art
4th Street and Constitution Ave. NW
Admission: Free
More information: (202) 737-4215 or www.nga.gov
