Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936), The Hunter's Return

Lot 191

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20 Winter Street
Pembroke, MA 02359
United States

Founded in 2005, Copley Fine Art Auctions is a boutique auction house specializing in antique decoys and American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Over the course of the last two decades, the firm has set auction records for not only individual decoy makers, but also entire carving regions. Copley...Read more

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The Winter Sale 2026, Day 1 by Copley Fine Art Auctions

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The Winter Sale 2026, Day 1

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Feb 20, 2026

Set Reminder 2026-02-20 10:00:00 2026-02-20 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Winter Sale 2026, Day 1 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-winter-sale-2026-day-1-22120 Lots 1-300 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com

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Lot Description

Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936)
The Hunter's Return, 1906
signed "E I COUSE NA" lower left
oil on canvas, 24 by 29 in.
titled on back of frame
Berry-Hill Galleries, New York label on back

Several of Couse's turkey hunting paintings capture the moment before the hunter shoots his arrow. In this famous canvas, however, Couse depicts the aftermath of a successful hunt, as the pursuer drags his quarry back home through the woods. Couse's extensive photographic archive included at least one image of local tom turkeys for reference, ensuring his accuracy. He worked closely with local models, Ben Lujan, Jerry Mirabal, and Juan Concha (seen in photograph), to carefully construct and craft his compositions, photographing them both in his studio and within the landscape in realistic positions. The hunter in this painting corresponds to a reference photo (shown here) taken by Couse, which is in the collection of the Lunder Research Center. Additionally, the Tia Collection owns a preparatory sketch for the work.

Born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1866, as a young man Couse showed an early aptitude for art and painted decorative ceilings to pay his way through school, starting at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1884 before studying at the National Academy of Design in New York. In 1887, he went to Paris to study at the Academie Julian under the influential artist and teacher William Bouguereau. Couse exhibited at the Paris Salon many times while living in France, where he met and married Virginia Walker, a fellow student from Oregon. They returned to the States in 1897, and Couse set up his studio in New York.

Beginning in 1902, he and his family spent twenty-five summers in Taos before moving there permanently. He co-founded the Taos Society of Artists in 1912 and was its first president. Couse died in 1936. Today, the Couse-Sharp Historical Site facilitates research on the Taos Society of Artists. This painting will be included in the Couse-Sharp Historic Site's forthcoming catalogue raisonne under cat. no. 0882.

This painting previously belonged to Walter Reed Bimson, a pioneering Arizona art collector who founded and headed Valley National Bank.

Provenance: Walter Reed Bimson Collection, Valley National Bank, Arizona
Berry-Hill Galleries, New York
Estate of Otis Brumby Jr., Marietta, Georgia
Robert S. Doochin Collection, acquired from Brunk Auctions, September 15-17, 2016, lot 1276

Literature: "The West and Walter Bimson," Tucson, AZ, 1971, p. 163.

Condition

Please email condition report requests to leah@copleyart.com.
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