Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

My father was an ophthalmologist here in Indianapolis, and he had a number of paintings, most of which were gifts from patients and friends, and I have a feeling that he may have acquired this from the Eiteljorg family. They were friends and neighbors. They lived close to where we live.

APPRAISER

Right, and of course, the museum here of Western art is named after them.

GUEST

That's right, yes. They had quite an extensive collection of American Indian art.

APPRAISER

Well, this is a marvelous example of Western art, so that fits rather nicely. When we saw it first, we thought it might have been by Henry Farny, the Cincinnati, Ohio, artist, but in fact it's by another Cincinnati artist, John Hauser, equally good. He studied in Cincinnati and then went off like many American artists, studied also in Munich and in Dusseldorf, and while he was in Munich, he worked with the great Greek artist Nikolaos Gyzis, and while he was there, he would have had a very strict, formal training, hence the realism in this work. I love the composition here. As we see, the side of the riverbank coming up in this diagonal and then being picked up in the horse's neck and leading you right into the center of the work. Do you know anything else about John Hauser? Had you come across him before?

GUEST

My mother, as it happens, was from Cincinnati originally, and I think she was aware that he was from Cincinnati, but that's all she knew about it. She very much liked this painting, as did my father.

APPRAISER

Yeah, yeah. He's painted it in gouache, which is a medium favored by many artists and also designers because of its quick- drying properties, unlike oil paint, which takes a long time to dry. He worked a lot in gouache, as many of the other artists who did this kind of subject did. We can see his signature down here, and unfortunately, because of the framing, the date is slightly...

GUEST

You can barely see it.

APPRAISER

You can barely see it, but it appears to be 1909.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

Now, I'm no expert on Native American Indian tribes. I can't profess to have a great knowledge of them, but my guess would be that they're probably Sioux, Sioux tribe, because in fact he was adopted by the Sioux in 1901 and given the name Straight White Shield, so it's a nice little story to go along with it. Have you ever given any thought as to the price of the work?

GUEST

No, not at all.

APPRAISER

Yeah, well, I hope it will come as a pleasant surprise, but at auction, I would expect this to comfortably reach between $12,000 and $18,000.

GUEST

Oh, my God! You're kidding.

APPRAISER

So, I hope that's good news.

GUEST

Yes. I'm amazed.