Joseph Rusling Meeker was an American painter based out of St Louis in the late 1800s. He is known for his incredible skies and southern swamp scenes. His most famous painting in his time was "The Indian Chief", of which these are studio and gallery examples.

The first studio painting, consisting of oil paint on F.W. Devoe & Co art board, shows a native in a swamp with a canoe nearby in quiet contemplation. The trees open up to a small window of sky with the haziness of a sweltering southern day. This piece is unsigned , but has all the hallmarks of a Meeker.

The second painting shows a very similar scene to the first, but with a darker moodier atmosphere and feel. It is signed Joseph Meeker 1882 and is executed as an oil on canvas.

We have had the great pleasure of rediscovering the unsigned studio work and reuniting it the gallery version. This adds to scholarship about Joseph Rusling Meeker and his methods and materials.