The Neigh of an Iron Horse

186(?)

Joseph Anderson Faris

Associated Names
Joseph Anderson Faris

Painter, American, 1833 - 1909

This painting shows a side view of a horse and a steam train in an open landscape. The reddish-brown horse is in the center of the painting, its legs bent and its head turned over its shoulder, looking to the left. Its long brown mane and tail appear to be blown to the left by the wind, and its one visible eye is wide, its mouth partially open. The gray-and-brown train is depicted in the background on the left, following a thin curving track, plumes of white and gray smoke flowing up from it. The color palette includes brown, green, blue, and white shades. The landscape contains tall grasses, small rocks, short bushes, a small blue pond on the left, and a tall tree on the right. The horizon is in the center, behind the horse, showing distant hazy trees and a cloudy blue sky above.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Descended in the family of the artist.[1] Oglebay Institute-Mansion Museum, Wheeling, West Virginia, until 1959. (Joseph A. Stevens, Wheeling, West Virginia), by whom sold in 1959 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; by bequest to NGA (courtesy of Gwynn Garbisch McDevitt), 1980.
[1] An inscription at the lower left of the canvas reads: A Fari[s], 186[ ]. Part of the last digit of the date is obliterated by fill; it may be a 0, 8, or 9.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1961

  • 101 Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by the Amer. Federation of Arts, New York, 1961-1964, no. 88, color repro., as by A. Tapy. First venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.

1967

  • Fifty Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, 1967, no cat.

1968

  • American Naive Paintings of the 18th and 19th Centuries: 111 Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C Garbisch, traveling exh. by Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., 1968-1970, no. 93, repro. First venue: Grand Palais, Paris.

1970

  • American Naive Paintings of the 18th and 19th Centuries: Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, by the Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., and Mainichi News., Nihobashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, 1970, no cat.

Bibliography

1970

  • Fite, Gilbert, Norman Graebner, and Philip White. A History of the United States. New York, 1970: 416.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 107-108, color repro. 108.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 176, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: A Fari[s], 186[ ]

Wikidata ID

Q20188422

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