On December 15, 1883, Harpers Weekly published an illustration by Farny captioned with the name A Dance of Crow Indians. The image depicts an evening event related to the Last Spike of the Northern Pacific Railroad with a group of Crow Indians dancing around a fire, as Indians and non-Indians watch. In the distance, lights from a train’s passenger windows penetrate the dark, making a strong contrast to the dancing Indians. Below is the image that appears on Page 800 of that December issue:
Now, what’s puzzling is that there is a Gouache by Farny at the Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) labeled A Dance of Crow Indians, the same name as the Harpers Weekly image, but it differs slightly from the image above. Here is how it looks:
While there are multiple differences between the two artworks, the two biggest involve the two dancing Indians that are the focus of the work. In the Harper’s version the center Indian faces toward the viewer, while in the CAM’s version the central Indian is turned away from viewer. In Harper’s version the Indian on the right is more upright, but in the CAM’s version the Indian on the right is bent forward.
So, why are they named the same, but look different? Let’s hold off answering that for the moment. Let’s take a look at a lesser known picture.
In 1943, The Cincinnati Art Museum held “HENRY F. FARNY AND THE AMERICAN INDIAN”, an exhibit of over 140 Farny works of art. Among the entries were two works lent by Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Williams: Game Ahead (#131) and Indian Fire Dance (#132), as shown on the image from the catalog below. It is the latter name that concerns us:
There were multiple newspaper articles published about the Farny exhibit during its early 1943 run. One article in particular, published February 21, 1943 and depicting a smattering of paintings from the exhibit, caught my eye. The scan from Newspapers.com is poor, but you can see the one below looks strangely familiar and it’s called the Indian Fire Dance:
More recently, thanks to the Frick Archives, I found a set of documents from the 1943 CAM exhibit that proves Indian Fire Dance was the original name of the image below with the Indian dancing forward.
So, it seems that the image published by Harper’s Weekly, originally titled Indian Fire Dance, was either changed or mixed up with the name from the other image Farny created (this assumes Farny submitted both for their review).
In 1947, the Cincinnati Enquirer published another article that included Indian Fire Dance. In the article, author Mary L Alexander explained that Mr. and Mrs. Williams owned 15 of Farny’s works. In describing the Indian Fire Dance, she said:
Mr. Williams is a canny collector, for in another–the “Indian Fire Dance”–he has secured evidence of another Farny’s great talents–that of romantic drama. Here he is more than the storyteller; he is the spirited dramatist celebrating one of the great historical events of American history–the meeting of the Union Pacific Railroad construction sections that cemented the east with the west. It is a gathering of the great throng that was celebrating the event–gamblers, businessmen, and the crews of the different parts of the road that were built. In the foreground is the wild and fierce fire dance by the Indians.
Fast forward to today and we find that Christies has listed a Farny artwork from an auction that they titled A Dance of the Crow Indians, but I submit this was likely the original Indian Fire Dance (originally owned by Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Williams). The details listed by Christie’s are as follows:
HENRY F. FARNY (1847-1916)
A Dance of Crow Indians* (I believe originally called Indian Fire Dance)
signed ‘·Farny·’ with artist’s device (lower right)
gouache en grisaille on paper
14 1⁄4 x 21 3⁄4 in. (36.2 x 55.2 cm.)
Executed circa 1883.
In contrast, the CAM describes A Dance of the Crow:
sheet 13 7/8 x 19 3/4 in. (35.2 x 50.2 cm)
black and white gouache over pencil
Not huge differences, but different just the same.
Thus, I find it clear that there are two separate works related to the event depicted in Harper’s Weekly. The 1883 Indian Fire Dance is the actual name of a Gouache depicted in the December 1883 Harper’s Weekly and that is shown on Christie’s website, while the 1883 A Dance of the Crow Indians, which wasn’t pictured in Harper’s, but whose name was used, is located at the Cincinnati Art Museum.
