01 Marine Painting - With Footnotes, #18g

John La Farge, 1835 - 1910

FISHING PARTY IN CANOES, SAMOA, c. 1890

Watercolor on paperboard

13 1/4 by 10 1/2 inches (33.6 by 26.6 cm)

Private Collection 

On October 5, 1890, in the second month of their fifteen month voyage to the South Seas, John La Farge and his friend Henry Adams arrived off Samoa. They spent most of their time on the island of Upolu, where they stayed in a guest house in the village of Vaiala and accompanied many excursions with villagers and the island royalty. The present watercolor was executed from a boat on November 20th, during a fishing expedition with King Mataafa. La Farge described the event in an inscription which appears under the mat, which reads: "Part of the fishing party from our village, Nov. 20th. This is the group to the right farthest out. They are waiting for the tide to set in, and bring the fish. They are outside of the great net with smaller ones to catch the fish getting over. As you see, the water is not deep - we are inside the reef. Some have heads whitened with lime; one has a white turban secured with grass. Two have headdresses of banana leaves. Vau, Mataafa's daughter, came to us with a fish, swimming however, and mostly under water. About the time the fish came in most of the people got into the water with their nets, many keeping their eyes under water to see the fish, for a very long time, especially Mataafa. All the time they made an enormous circle outside the great net." More on this painting

John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American painter, muralist, stained glass window maker, decorator, and writer. La Farge was born in New York City to wealthy French parents. His interest in art began during his studies at Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland and St. John's College in New York. He initially intended to study law, but this changed after his first visit to Paris, France in 1856. Stimulated by the arts in the city, he studied with Thomas Couture and became acquainted with notable literary people.

La Farge's earliest drawings and landscapes, from his studies in Newport, show marked originality, especially in the handling of color values. Many of La Farge's mythological and religious paintings, including Virgil, were executed in an area of Rhode Island known as "Paradise," in a forest which La Farge called "The Sacred Grove" after Virgil.

La Farge made extensive travels in Asia and the South Pacific, which inspired his painting. He visited Japan in 1886, and the South Seas in 1890 and 1891, in particular spending time and absorbing the culture of Tahiti. Henry Adams accompanied him on these trips as a travel companion. He visited Hawaii in September 1890, where he painted scenic spots on Oahu and traveled to the Island of Hawaii to paint an active volcano.

In 1892, La Farge was brought on as an instructor with the Metropolitan Museum of Art Schools to provide vocational training to students in New York City.[ He served as President of the National Society of Mural Painters from 1899 to 1904.

He learned several languages, and was erudite in literature and art; by his cultured personality and reflective conversation, he influenced many other people. Though naturally a questioner, he venerated the traditions of religious art, and preserved his Catholic faith.

La Farge died at Butler Hospital, in Providence, Rhode Island in 1910. More on John La Farge

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