Henry Farny: Death

"Indian Encampment" by Henry Farny

Monday 25, 1916 in "The Cincinnati Enquirer:" "Henry F. Farny one of the most celebrated painters of Indians and Indians life that America has produced, died at midnight Saturday at German Deaconess Hospital, after an illness of two months. His passing brings to a close one of the most remarkable careers in the annals of American art, a career that began with boyhood struggles against poverty and discouragements and ended with the showering of a whole world's plaudits upon him. 

The first signs of failing health were observed a little more than two months ago, a complication of diseases, due largely to exposures and hard life in the Western mountains, being the cause that was found necessary to take him to German Deaconess Hospital shortly after his illness became apparent, and there he remained until the hour of his death. Besides his widow and son, two sisters survive him. The funeral will be held at 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon in the Crematory Chapel. Services will be conducted by Carson Lodge of Masons. 

He had earned the respect of fellow Cincinnati artists. Shortly after his death, Lewis Henry Meakin remembered Farny as 'a man of rare gifts and unusual personality. His art was of the kind that was understood and cared for by a wide range of people. His skill in craftsmanship, the invisible excellence of his design or composition, his fertility of invention and his remarkable ability in making use of the material at his command: his clearness of vision and the readiness and dexterity with which he caught and embodied an idea commanded the respect and admiration of his fellow-artists and the artistically cultured at the same time...' 

However, from the time of his death until recently, Farny's works dropped into obscurity outside of Cincinnati. The majority of his paintings were in private collections in Cincinnati and often were passed from one generation to another. No exhibitions of his work are known to have been held elsewhere until recently. However, over the last ten years, interest in Farny's work has increased dramatically because of the upsurge in the popularity of Western painting. His paintings are now widely sought after by dealers and collectors."

(Excerpts from "The Artist's Materials and Techniques" by Cecile D. Mear in "Henry Farny Paints the Wild West.")