261 Scout from Fort Bowie

SOLD
Winning Bid Undisclosed
This item SOLD at 2015 Apr 11 @ 15:31UTC-7 : PDT/MST
Category Western Americana
Auction Currency USD
Start Price NA
Estimated at 250,000.00 - 350,000.00 USD
Scout from Fort Bowie
Artist: Terpning, HowardDate of Birth: b. 1927
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 28 x 40 inches
Signed: Signed lower left/CA and dated 1985

Built in 1862 to protect Apache Pass and an important source of fresh water, Apache Spring, Fort Bowie served as the headquarters of the U.S. Army in its campaign against the Apache. Between 1861 and 1886, the area around Fort Bowie, near Wilcox, Arizona, saw some of the fiercest fighting between the U.S. Army and the Chiricahua Apache nation, led at first by Cochise and then by Geronimo. After GeronimoÕs surrender in 1886, Fort Bowie no longer had a purpose, and it was abandoned by the Army in 1894. Today, the ruins of the fort are a National Historical Landmark maintained by the Park Service. In A Scout From Fort Bowie, Howard Terpning puts us beside the crucial spring, just ahead of two Apache ScoutsÑfor the ArmyÑand what looks, perhaps, to be an Army Corporal. They, in turn, are out in front of a larger detachment from Fort Bowie. The Apache Scout, wearing an Army blouse, scans the stream bed for a sign of hostile movement, perhaps a deep hoof print that hasnÕt washed away, or the sign of some disturbance to suggest that mounted men have crossed here. As ever, Terpning knows his history. He is all too aware that the Apache who turned against their own people and heritage would become some of the most valuable, and valued, soldiers who served in the Indian campaigns. What this Scout is feeling, whatÕs going through his mind, we cannot say, but what is certain is that he stands on the knife edge of his times.