Joseph Henry Sharp was born in Bridgeport, OH on Sept. 27, 1859, Joseph Henry Sharp was raised in Ironton and Cincinnati. He began art studies at the Cincinnati Art Academy at age 14. In 1882 he was a pupil of Charles Verlat in Antwerp; the following year he made his first trip to the West to sketch the Indian tribes of New Mexico, California, and the Columbia River.

In 1886 he again was in Europe accompanied by Frank Duveneck. While in Munich, he was a pupil of Karl Marr and had further study with Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant in Paris.

Sharp taught at the Cincinnati Art Academy from 1892 until 1902, and then resigned to devote full time to painting. Summers were spent in Montana at Crow Agency in a cabin and studio at the foot of the Custer Battlefield.

As well as a home in Pasadena, he also had a studio in Taos, NM which was opposite Kit Carson's old home. During the 1930s he made several painting trips to Hawaii.

Sharp died in Pasadena, CA on Aug. 29, 1953.

Eleven of his paintings of famous Indians were purchased by the U.S. Government in 1900 and now hang in the Smithsonian Institution. A collection of 80 Indian portraits and pictures were purchased by Phoebe Hearst in 1902 for UC Berkeley.