#61 • Eustace Ziegler Oil Painting of Tanana Mother & Child

Part of June 2026 Premier Auction (live auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

High bid $2,600.00

Status: Sold

Category: Art

An original impressionistic oil painting on canvas by renowned Alaska master Eustace Paul Ziegler (1881-1969), depicting one of the artist's most iconic and sought-after subjects: an Alaska Native (Athabascan) mother carrying her young child. Executed with broad, painterly brushstrokes and a restrained palette punctuated by striking accents of blue, white, and warm earth tones, the composition captures a moment of quiet intimacy and maternal tenderness. The woman, wrapped in a luminous white garment and vivid blue headscarf and carrying a blue pack, cradles her child swathed in red cloth against a softly rendered background that lends the scene a dreamlike quality characteristic of Ziegler's finest work. Born in Michigan and academically trained at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Royal Academy in Munich, Ziegler arrived in Alaska in 1924 to teach art at the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines in Fairbanks. Enchanted by the territory and its people, he remained for the rest of his life and devoted himself to recording Alaska Native cultures, village life, and the grandeur of the northern landscape. Together with Sydney Laurence, Jules Dahlager, and Ted Lambert, he became one of the legendary "Alaska Four," the pioneering painters who established Alaska's fine art tradition. Today, his works reside in major museum collections and continue to command strong prices at auction, with exceptional examples achieving six-figure results. Mother and child subjects rank among the most recognizable and enduring themes within Ziegler's oeuvre. Inspired by his close relationships with Native communities throughout Alaska, he produced numerous portraits celebrating the dignity, resilience, and humanity of his sitters. This example possesses the loose brushwork and subtle impressionistic qualities collectors particularly prize, while the artist's celebrated cache monogram appearing alongside his signature in the lower left corner further enhances its desirability. Signed lower left with Ziegler's famous cache monogram and housed in a gilt wooden frame. Measures approximately 14.25" x 13" overall with a sight view of 10.25" x 9. Representing one of the quintessential themes explored by Alaska's foremost pioneer painter, this intimate and beautifully executed composition exemplifies the warmth, sensitivity, and painterly elegance that have made Eustace Paul Ziegler one of the most influential and beloved figures in Alaska art. Provenance: The collection of Charles (Charlie) McAlpine (1932-2019) Private collection, Anchorage, AK