Henry Farny

As a child, he learned the lore of the woods from Seneca Indians, who came from their reservation to hunt in the neighborhood where his father lived.

In his boyhood, he was fond of covering the walls of his father's board-house with pictures of animals, birds, and Indians, which he scratched with nails or framed by aid of burnt sticks.

One part of America where this was not the case was in Cincinnati, where the realist objectives taught there were still being held in high esteem.

Despite this, upon his return to Cincinnati in 1870, Farny, who had been studying abroad, came home to a minimally responsive demand by Cincinnatians for his paintings.

In 1873, this all changed when he was commissioned by the chamber of commerce to depict in drawing the different stages of pork packing in Cincinnati.

In 1881, inspired by the developing market for Indian paintings, Farny traveled up the Missouri River, making sketches, taking notes and photography, and collecting artifacts.