Henry Farny

Henry François Farny (15 July 1847 – 23 December 1916) was an American painter and illustrator. His work was centered on the life of Native Americans in the 19th-century United States.

Biography Farny was born in Ribeauvillé. His family left France in 1853 to emigrate to the United States. The family moved to Warren, Pennsylvania, near a Seneca reservation. As a child, he learned the lore of the woods from Seneca Indians, who came from their reservation to hunt in the neighborhood where his father lived. In his boyhood, he was fond of covering the walls of his father's board-house with pictures of animals, birds, and Indians, which he scratched with nails or framed by aid of burnt sticks. Upon his return to Cincinnati, he remarked: "The plains, the buttes, the whole country and its people are fuller of material for the artist than any country in Europe."

About 100 paintings were inspired by Farny's western trips in the 1880s. Ration Day at Standing Rock Agency, The Song of the Talking Wire, and The Last Vigil are among his most famous. His understanding of the Indian's plight is often apparent in his work.

Theodore Roosevelt once said to Farny: "Farny, the nation owes you a great debt. It does not realize it now, but it will some day. You are preserving for future generations phases of American history that are rapidly passing away." His obituary appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer on December 25, 1916.

Legacy Farny's art continues to gain in popularity, and most serious public as well as private Western art collections include at least one painting. Recently, his Southern Plains Indian Warrior sold at Bonhams for £224,097 (US$362,500) - more than three times its original estimated value.

Artworks American Gallery: Henry Farney (1847–1916)

Selected artworks