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E. A. Burbank (1858-1949)

Currency:USD Category:Western Americana / Art - Paintings Start Price:45,000.00 USD Estimated At:60,000.00 - 80,000.00 USD
E. A. Burbank (1858-1949)
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E. A. Burbank (1858-1949). Virgil Earp. 24” x 20” Pastel on Paper. Signed lower left: E. A. BURBANK. Inscribed upper right: VIRGIL EARP. Framed to 33” x 29” - In period frame.
Literature: The Art of Elbridge Ayer Burbank, from the Harold & Bonnie Julsen Collection, pictured on page 51.

Elbridge Ayer Burbank (1858-1949)
E.A. Burbank was an American artist who sketched and painted over 1200 portraits of Native Americans, including famous figures such as Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Rain-in-the-Face and Geronimo. He is believed to be the only person to paint Geronimo from life. Geronimo is rumored to have said that he liked Burbank more than any other white man he had ever met.

Burbank visited 128 tribes, painting the leading figures and everyday people alike. The endeavor began as a commission from his uncle, but Burbank quickly recognized the import of his task, and chronicled his visits across the country as a historian as well as an artist. He was empathetic and sympathetic to his subjects, and found he had little trouble securing models to sit for him. Among his favorite subjects was Chief Joseph, of whom Burbank wrote, “Most of my subjects sat stiff and silent while posing, but Chief Joseph conversed with me all the time I was working on his portrait… [He] also liked to talk about the good things he had eaten, particularly back in Washington where he had visited General Miles. ‘Oysters hi-you-skookum,’ said Joseph.”

Burbank’s works are held in a number of notable museums and private collections. Burbank, Oklahoma is named after him.