Humphriss, Charles

A specialist in depicting Native Americans in sculpture, Charles Humphriss excelled at capturing the dignity of his subjects, embuing them with a powerful visage to exude a sense of peace and internal harmony. He was attracted to the subject of worship and gave this a great deal of attention in his sculpture. While his emphasis was always figural, his ability to seamlessly incorporate brilliant depictions of animals showed a high degree of topical flexibility. His equestrian representations in particular are always compelling.

While the work he completed on the American West was certainly his most popular subject matter, he further modeled a few other subjects including King Arthur, President Abraham Lincoln, a pair of bookends with Clowns and Dogs, models of soldiers and a male nude titled Lotus-Eater.



Born in England in 1867, Humphriss eventually ended up settling in New York where he would spend most of his time despite having almost all of his subject matter rooted in the West. He became a member of the National Sculpture Society in 1908 and was also active with the Society of Independent Artists and the New York Academy of Design.

He exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1907, 1908, 1909 and 1910, at the the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1907, 1911 and 1913 and the Art Institute of Chicago in 1912 and 1916. He also won several awards at the Panama-Pacific Exposition and exhibited at the New York Academy of Design.

Artist Listings & Bibliography:

• A Century of American Sculpture: The Roman Bronze Works Foundry, Rosenfeld, Schiffer, 2002, p. 96-97
• Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, Opitz, 1983, p. 460
• Dictionary of American Sculptors: "18th Century to the Present", Opitz, 1984, p. 192
• E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, vol. VII, Gründ, 2006, p. 450
• The Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 1876-1913
• The Annual Exhibition Record of the National Academy of Design 1901-1950
• The Annual Exhibition Record of the Art Institute of Chicago 1888-1950