Percy Van Eman Ivory (American, 1883-1960), Stage Coach

Oil on canvas, signed at lower right, the stretchers retaining a label and bearing the stamp of Harry Eichleay Art Co. of Pittsburgh, unframed.

Stretcher size 25 x 36 in.

Private Collection, Edenton, North Carolina

Percy Van Eman Ivory was an American illustrator known for his depictions of the American West and adventure subjects. Born in Sacramento, California, he studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art in San Francisco and later at the Howard Pyle School in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1906 he received a major commission from The Saturday Evening Post to illustrate Joseph Conrad’s Gaspar Ruiz, a project informed by his earlier travels in Mexico, which provided him with authentic visual references.

Ivory’s career included illustrations for works by Jack London and other writers, and he became associated with a group of Pyle students in Claymont, Delaware, known as the “four horsemen of Naamans.” In 1918 he moved to New York City, establishing a studio in the Studio Building on West Tenth Street. He exhibited with organizations such as the Society of Illustrators and the Salmagundi Club.

Paint loss around wrapped edges of canvas, particularly extensive along lower edge of canvas; allover craquelure with some paint lifting and loss; surface grime; stretcher marks; inspection under UV light shows a later varnish, but no evidence of retouch.