Henry H. Cross
Western Portrait Artist
Henry H. Cross is the most important, yet forgotten Western artist today. Although forgotten, his credentials as chronicler of the Great West far exceed more famous Western artists like Catlin, Remington and Russell.
A wire rim, spectacled little man with walrus moustache, Cross was an artist with a mission. Henry Cross tried to obtain life portraits of all the early Western pioneers, Indians and historical figures. He often journeyed for weeks to get a sitting with an old mountain man, Indian war chief or famous general. Cross knew the old West would disappear in his life time. He raced around to record as much as possible. Other Western artists, like Russell, were content to portray their little part of it. Cross fanatically went after it all. Cross painted more Indians, law men, and trail blazers than any other artist in history. He easily qualifies as the greatest Western artist of all time, yet he is almost forgotten.
Cross was born in Flemington, New York, in 1837. In his early teens, he twice ran away from home and joined P.T. Barnum’s traveling circus. When he was 16, his family scraped money together to send this child prodigy to France to study with the renowned artist Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899). It was from her he learned to draw and paint animals. He learned portraiture from Jean Leon Gerome (1824-1904). It was probably here he learned to pain his exotic Arab models. This experience painting the exotic he would later use for his portraits of exotic Indians and their costumes. Gerome also taught him charcoal portrait technique.
After four years, he returned to America and became a sign, backdrop and wagon painter for Barnum again. While traveling across country, he made his first Indian portraits.
In 1862, he went to Minnesota to do portraits of the Indians imprisoned for the New Ulm Massacre. Afterwards, he continued West and lived with the Sioux learning their language and customs. Many of his famous Indians portraits were done in this period. The Indians befriended him. Nineteenth century Indians usually didn’t pose. They believed an artist would capture their “spirit” and take it away with him. Since Cross lived with them and spoke their language, they trusted him. They posed for Cross and no one else.
In late 1864, he was commissioned by the government to do a life portrait of President Abraham Lincoln. It was to hang in his new personal railroad car. He traveled from his home in Chicago to Washington for the sitting. Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865 and the painting never delivered. The railroad car instead became part of his funeral train. It is the last life portrait of the President. It is still owned by the Cross family, along with the important, preparatory drawings.
After the Civil War, he again went West and did more portraits, He met George Armstrong Custer and formed a close friendship with him and his family. Several charcoal portraits of the “Boy General” were done and a large formal one executed in Cross’ Chicago studio, where he resided. The superb drawings for this 1876 painting, are one of his largest and most important works. It is the only known life portrait of Custer. He also did a portrait of the General’s brother, Tom.
Whenever “wanderlust” struck Cross, he joined a traveling circus and resorted to his old craft of painting old signs, wagons and backdrops. Eventually he joined Buffalo Bill’s circus. He traveled across the country and Europe. The King of England was so impressed, he commissioned Cross to do a portrait of him. Buffalo Bill remained Cross’ Closest friend, until his death, in 1917.
Cross never met Remington, but was a friend of Charlie Russell. Russell posed for him on three occasions. The had much in common, as having both lived in the great West, while Remington was a New York illustrator. Cross is believed to be the only artist Russell posed for.
Eventually, he returned to Chicago and again opened a portrait studio. His last Presidential commission was a painting of Theodore Roosevelt.
In his old age, Cross sold several landscapes and some portraits to a New York art dealer. He refused to sell the majority of his important collection of over 125 paintings of Indians and Old West participants. Cross never did portraits of outlaws but was the only known artist to paint a life portrait of Wild Bill Hickock, Jim Bridger, Jeremiah Johnson, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Kit Carson, Pat Garrett, Wyatt Earp, Judge Parker, Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane.
Eventually, Cross sold the painting collection to Thomas B. Walker. He donated the paintings then to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Cross died in Chicago in 1918. He is buried there.
It is most unfortunate for his reputation he sold his collection as a group. If he dispensed these valuable documents of the “Old West” one by one, where collectors and other museums could collect them, possibly, he would be as famous as Remington and Russell. A few of his paintings are in noted institutions like the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa and the Chicago Historical Society Museum. As his portraits almost never appear on the market, he has been almost totally forgotten.
Cross was meticulous in preparation. It was his custom to make several sketches of each subject, a drawing of costume details and a large charcoal “value” study, with emphasis on the face and free rendering of costume details. Sometimes he tried several charcoal compositions before deciding on the final version. From these charcoal drawings, the paintings were done. Thus, his drawings are the true life study originals, not the oils.
Cross’ charcoal sketching technique is traditional. He first established the outline of the figure and carefully placed the emphasis lines on the paper. He blocked in darks and finally half tones. He then lightened areas with his erasure. It was not a pure build up technique but equally a subtraction method. His sensitivity to dark Indian complexion is extraordinary. These are not white men wearing feathers, but people who spent all their lives under the sun. There they sit in front of you, high pronounced cheek bones, wrinkles brown and all.
His power lines and guide points can be seen under the dark tone. He worked from the top of the picture down. The head and face would be in great detail. When he reached the bottom, a few quick lines is all he needed to transfer the composition to canvas. There are slight differences in the drawings, one less feather, more folds of cloth, and considerable greater facial detail. Like most nineteenth century drawings, his drawings are dark with rich velvety blacks.
Cross was interested in the sitter’s personality. His portraits have a psychological insight rarely seen in nineteenth century portraiture. Cross seemed to lose this when he transferred the drawing to canvas. Cross’ drawings have amazing power, when placed next to the oil painting made from them. The finished painting looks flat, stiff and lifeless. Often the drawings are unsettling in the “presence” they contain. You may not care for them, but you can’t forget them. They are definitely not you “Hollywood” Western cowboys and Indians so popular among today’s contemporary artists. Working from life rather than a secondary source was key to his drawing genius.
Cross embraced artistic challenge. He executed large charcoal portraits of famed sitters on horseback like Custer, Sitting Bull, Hickok and Buffalo Bill. He also painted exciting action scenes of them for circus advertisements. They were probably destroyed with all of Buffalo Bill’s circus props. The only record of them are the wonderful charcoal sketches. He used them as reference, should Cross receive a commission to make another oil or variation.
Many art experts prefer these spontaneous drawings over the oils where every bead and feather is carefully rendered, at the cost of psychological insight and truth. No face looks blank, no expressionless mouths, only great technical virtuosity to capture the spirit of the person. The drawings seem to breathe.
Fortunately, Cross’ important portrait drawings, as well as action sketches for the Buffalo Bill Circus, have survived. Now for the fisrt time, they are available for collectors, investors and museums. Besides being bold, decorative and large, they surely are outstanding investments.
Remington and Russell never did Indian portraits. Nineteenth century Indians just didn’t trust them as they did Cross. Twentieth century Indians portraits by artists like Couse, Sharp and Farny occasionally appear on the market at fantastic prices. None of these are recognizable Indians. When you look at Cross’ famous nineteenth century Indians, they are a bargain. Compare Cross’ credentials and quality and you soon realize what a rare opportunity it is to obtain one of these important original documents of the Old West.
R . Bruce Duncan
President
Chicago Appraisers Association
