492

William Henry Buck

Norwegian/Louisiana, 1840-1888

William Henry Buck
(Norwegian/Louisiana, 1840-1888)

"Sharecropper's Cabin, Farm Along the Bayou"

oil on canvas
signed lower right, a "Taylor Clark, Fine Prints, Paintings & Framing, Baton Rouge" label en verso.
Framed.
14" x 22", framed 19-1/2" x 27-1/2"

Provenance: Dr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Dugas, Jr., New Orleans, Louisiana.

Notes: The demand for portraiture waned after the Civil War, giving way to the emergence of the Louisiana Landscape School led by Richard Clague, an academically trained artist working in the French Barbizon style. The establishment of art galleries and associations provided the artists opportunities to exhibit their paintings and earn a living.

Among Clague's most talented students was William Henry Buck. A native of Norway, Buck emigrated to the northeast around 1865 and studied with landscape artist Ernest Ciceri. Arriving in New Orleans in 1870, Buck worked in a cotton merchant's office and studied with Clague. To accurately represent and experience the unique topography and waterways of southern Louisiana, Clague took his students on "plein air" painting expeditions.

During the late 19th century, sharecropping emerged as the primary form of farming in Louisiana. The newly freed but landless African American workers and the planters who lacked capital and credit entered a compromise. The formerly enslaved people farmed the land in return for housing and a share of the crop. In the painting "Sharecropper's Cabin, Farm Along the Bayou", Buck depicted the daily life of sharecroppers. Set among the Spanish-moss-draped live oak and cypress trees, the sharecropper's cabin was situated next to the fields and included hanging laundry, cistern for collecting rainwater, and pirogue for transportation in the bayou.

oil on canvas
signed lower right, a "Taylor Clark, Fine Prints, Paintings & Framing, Baton Rouge" label en verso.
Framed.
14" x 22", framed 19-1/2" x 27-1/2"

  • Provenance: Dr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Dugas, Jr., New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • Notes: The demand for portraiture waned after the Civil War, giving way to the emergence of the Louisiana Landscape School led by Richard Clague, an academically trained artist working in the French Barbizon style. The establishment of art galleries and associations provided the artists opportunities to exhibit their paintings and earn a living.

    Among Clague's most talented students was William Henry Buck. A native of Norway, Buck emigrated to the northeast around 1865 and studied with landscape artist Ernest Ciceri. Arriving in New Orleans in 1870, Buck worked in a cotton merchant's office and studied with Clague. To accurately represent and experience the unique topography and waterways of southern Louisiana, Clague took his students on "plein air" painting expeditions.

    During the late 19th century, sharecropping emerged as the primary form of farming in Louisiana. The newly freed but landless African American workers and the planters who lacked capital and credit entered a compromise. The formerly enslaved people farmed the land in return for housing and a share of the crop. In the painting "Sharecropper's Cabin, Farm Along the Bayou", Buck depicted the daily life of sharecroppers. Set among the Spanish-moss-draped live oak and cypress trees, the sharecropper's cabin was situated next to the fields and included hanging laundry, cistern for collecting rainwater, and pirogue for transportation in the bayou.
  • Condition: **In professionally restored condition. Canvas relined and retaining original stretcher bars. Craquelure pattern visible. Signs of inpainting in upper third (sky and clouds).
    Modern frame with surface marks, nicks and abrasions.

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