Brush - "Indian Moose Hunters" Realistic oil painting of 2 indian hunters in a canoe chasing a moose

George De Forest Brush • American: 1855-1941

Indian Moose Hunters • Oil on Panel 17 1/2” x 23 1/2”

A man in camouflage. What did the Crow Indians think when a Parisian bon vivant walked into their camp that summer day in 1885? George de Forest Brush had a remarkable ability to fit in everywhere he went. He was comfortable in the salons of Paris, where he studied art, and Indian encampments in America’s wild west, where he studied life. He was friends with Mark Twain, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and the Indian Chief Plenty Coups who never forgot Brush’s “words of eternal wisdom.”

But there were two people he could never quite see eye-to-eye with: His father, who despised his career choices, and his mother-in-law who didn’t want her daughter marrying an unconventional man living in a teepee on a plot of land surrounded by the mansions of upstate New York. He never reconciled with his father, though he became a prosperous artist. He solved the other family problem by eloping with girlfriend Mittie Welply and staying in Canada for two years until his new mother-in-law calmed down.

George and Mittie were a formidable couple whose outer civility masked restless spirits and unconventional tastes. While raising seven children, they moved from New York to France to Florence, Italy and finally rural New Hampshire. George railed against modernity by painting Indians as craftsmen using techniques perfected over generations. His painting, Indian Moose Hunters is very much in this vein, though the subject matter is a traditional hunting technique rather than art.

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Mittie loved flying airplanes. Together they collaborated on finding ways to make airplanes and ships invisible. George’s study of protective coloration in nature led to the couple’s development of camouflage during World War I.

So you see, you really can tell a lot about a man from his teepee. George de Forest Brush’s early choice of homes indicated a man who viewed the world from a different angle. A man unsatisfied with conventional choices. By the time he died on the cusp of World War II, he had become an American Master, in both art and life.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • Gift of John Hemming Fry 46.15

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“He was a Parisian trained painter who made his mark painting the lives of American Indians He lived in both Paris and Indian villages in the wild west.”

2.
“Crow Chief Plenty Coups (really) never forgot Brush’s ‘words of eternal wisdom’ and claims they greatly influenced Crow history.”

3.
“Later in his life, he became known as the ‘Grandfather of Art Pottery’ as he popularized ceramic techniques of ancient Pueblo Indians.”

4.
“His wife, Mittie, was an early woman aviator. Together, and with the help of friend Abbott Thayer, they developed camouflage for the military.”

Brush Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1855

Born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, to Alfred and Nancy Brush. His father was a successful businessman and his mother a self-taught artist. The family moved to Darien, Connecticut, a year later. George was a sickly child whose mother encouraged him to start drawing at an early age.

1870

A precocious 15-year old, he went to study art at the National Academy of Design in New York City.

1874

Accepted into the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the most demanding art school in Paris.

1880

Returned to America upon the death of his mother. After the funeral he had a falling out with his father, who never approved of his career choices. They never reconciled.

Early 1880s

Fascinated with Native American Indians and at odds with modernism, Brush accompanied his brother on a business trip to Wyoming and ended up living among the Arapahoe, Crow and Shoshone Indians for quite some time. Upon returning to the East he developed a series of paintings based on his drawings of the West. Many appeared in popular magazines of the day.

1886

He was living in a teepee on land in Connecticut. The parents of his fiancé, Mittie Taylor Whelpley, did not approve of his living arrangements, so he and Mittie eloped. The young couple fled to Canada, remaining there for two years until her mother settled down and accepted their marriage. They eventually had 7 children.

1893

Won Gold Medal in Art at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

1890s

Heartbroken at the treatment of native American Indians, he stopped painting them. His work took on more of a Renaissance feel in a series of portraits, many inspired by his family.

1896

Working with friend and fellow artist, Abbott Thayer, he started to study protective coloration. This eventually led to a U.S. Patent for camouflage, or as he referred to it, “The Process of Treating the Outside of Ships, Etc. For Making Them Less Visible.” His wife, Mittie, held similar patents for airplanes.

1900

Won Gold Medal for Art at the Exposition Internationale in Paris.

1901

Won Gold Medal for Art at the Pan-American Exposition.

1904

Won Gold Medal for Art at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

1910

Elected to the Society of American Artists, the National Academy of Arts and Letters.

1916

Acquired a Morane-Sauinier monoplane and experimented with ways to make it virtually invisible. Mittie was an early woman aviator.

1920

Sold a large painting “At the Fountain” for $18,000, the largest amount ever before paid for a painting by a living American artist.

1922

Had first solo show at the Century Gallery in New York City.

1920s-1930s

He and Mittie used the wealth he earned to enjoy life as a world traveler. Also started The Brush Guild Pottery Foundation to teach the artisan techniques he learned from Pueblo Indians. He was well known as the Grandfather of American Art Pottery.

1941

Died in Dublin, New Hampshire. Mittie survived him.

1971

His eldest daughter, Nancy Douglas Bowditch, wrote and published an exhaustive account of his life. Bowditch was a noted painter and theatre designer. His large brood also included the sculptor, Gerome Brush.

2008

National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, staged a full exhibition of his Indian paintings.