French Miscellaneous
Series — Box: 1
Scope and Content
From the Collection:
This collection comprises approximately 11,000 photographs, the majority of which are E.I. Couse's original contact prints produced throughout his lifetime, primarily as photo studies for his paintings. The collection also includes later reprints, picture postcards, and both historic and later photographs of family, friends, animals, and landscapes some of which were not taken by Couse.
E.I. Couse produced his prints from cellulose nitrate negatives using sunlight and a contact process in his darkroom in his home studio in Taos, New Mexico where there was no electricity or running water until 1928. Couse used photography as an integral part of his artistic process and many of the original prints have gridding and light pencil sketching done by Couse as he envisioned his next painting. Many prints have handwritten notes on the verso in the hands of E.I. Couse, Virginia Walker Couse, Kibbey Whitman Couse, Virginia Couse Leavitt, and others.
The photo studies often feature Couse’s two most frequently used models, Jerry Mirabal and Ben Lujan, but also include a number of other models. Couse often posed his models with objects such as pottery, beadworks, textiles and other ethnographic materials from his personal collection, many of which remain in the Couse Foundation’s collections to this day.
The photographs also include Couse’s time studying and painting in France, trips to the Netherlands, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and time spent at his wife Virginia Walker Couse’s family ranch in Washington state with the subjects including local people, cows, sheep, and landscapes.
There are also a few series that focus on Taos, New Mexico locations, buildings, and personalities including many prominent artists and individuals of Couse’s day with one series devoted to the Taos Society of Artists and another of the Couse house’s interior and exterior throughout the years.
Finally, the collection also includes many photographs of both immediate and extended family on both sides, with an entire series devoted to E.I. Couse’s son, Kibbey Whitman Couse.
This collection retains E.I. Couse’s original intellectual organization and labels as well as Virginia Couse Leavitt’s supplemental arrangement and labeling. Please see processing notes for an explanation of the series and the accompanying abbreviations.
E.I. Couse produced his prints from cellulose nitrate negatives using sunlight and a contact process in his darkroom in his home studio in Taos, New Mexico where there was no electricity or running water until 1928. Couse used photography as an integral part of his artistic process and many of the original prints have gridding and light pencil sketching done by Couse as he envisioned his next painting. Many prints have handwritten notes on the verso in the hands of E.I. Couse, Virginia Walker Couse, Kibbey Whitman Couse, Virginia Couse Leavitt, and others.
The photo studies often feature Couse’s two most frequently used models, Jerry Mirabal and Ben Lujan, but also include a number of other models. Couse often posed his models with objects such as pottery, beadworks, textiles and other ethnographic materials from his personal collection, many of which remain in the Couse Foundation’s collections to this day.
The photographs also include Couse’s time studying and painting in France, trips to the Netherlands, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and time spent at his wife Virginia Walker Couse’s family ranch in Washington state with the subjects including local people, cows, sheep, and landscapes.
There are also a few series that focus on Taos, New Mexico locations, buildings, and personalities including many prominent artists and individuals of Couse’s day with one series devoted to the Taos Society of Artists and another of the Couse house’s interior and exterior throughout the years.
Finally, the collection also includes many photographs of both immediate and extended family on both sides, with an entire series devoted to E.I. Couse’s son, Kibbey Whitman Couse.
This collection retains E.I. Couse’s original intellectual organization and labels as well as Virginia Couse Leavitt’s supplemental arrangement and labeling. Please see processing notes for an explanation of the series and the accompanying abbreviations.
Dates
- ca. 1880s-1990s
Extent
From the Collection: 43 linear feet. Prints are housed in 3-ring album protective sleeves and stored in 40 flat drop-front boxes.
Language of Materials
From the Collection: Undetermined
Repository Details
Part of the Lunder Research Center Repository
Contact:
The Lunder Research Center for the Taos Society of Artists
The Couse-Sharp Historic Site
146 Kit Carson Road
Taos NM 87571 USA
575-751-0369
mhendriks@couse-sharp.org
The Lunder Research Center for the Taos Society of Artists
The Couse-Sharp Historic Site
146 Kit Carson Road
Taos NM 87571 USA
575-751-0369
mhendriks@couse-sharp.org