Original Gouache Painting of a Native American Man [SOLD]

Gerald Cassidy was one of the most respected American artists of the early 20th century working in the Southwest.  Cassidy was born in Kentucky and raised in Ohio and studied at the Institute of Mechanical Arts, the National Academy of Design, and the Arts Students League.  A life-threatening illness brought him to Albuquerque and introduced him to the subject matter he would paint for the remainder of his career. 

After brief stays in Denver and New York doing commercial work, he returned to Santa Fe in 1912 and became a founding member of the Santa Fe Artist's Colony.  Commissioned by the Fred Harvey Companies, he created several portraits and murals, many of which still hang in the La Fonda Hotel on the plaza in Santa Fe.  Today his works are in several outstanding museum and private collections.

Cassidy was particularly fond of pueblo subjects and people.  This gouache painting of a pueblo man is unidentified as to name but he certainly was a strikingly handsome man.  Because of the manner in which Cassidy signed the painting, we suspect it was painted in the 1915 period.  He signed Ira D. Cassidy.  Later, he signed Gerald Cassidy.

Cassidy received many commissions for large-scale murals and it was while working on one of these commissions in 1934 that he died from inhaling fumes from the paints in a tightly closed room with no fresh air circulating.  Carbon monoxide and turpentine fumes took his life.

Cassidy's wife, Ina Sizer Cassidy, lived the remainder of her life in their Santa Fe home and she was a major contributor to the community of Santa Fe.

Condition:  The painting appears to be in original condition although it has not been examined out of the frame. 

Provenance: ex. coll. Richard M. Howard

                         ex. coll. Santa Fe family