Crossing Medicine Lodge Creek by Howard Terpning

Crossing Medicine Lodge Creek by Howard Terpning.

 

This has been one of the artist's personal favorites from among his works, perhaps in part because of the frustrations he suffered in making the composition suit him. It features a sharp contrast between dark areas and light, an effect he was striving for. One of his major problems, however, was the fact that the two central foreground figures, Crow Indians, are riding away from the viewer. He confesses that he came very near scrapping the project. Then he tried a simple device, having one of the Indians on the far shore turn and look back. This invites the viewer's attention back to the foreground figures and centers the interest. (The Art of Howard Terpning - Elmer Kelton).

 

Print released 1983.