Artists known as American scene painters,
you'll see Tourist Cabins, by John Steuart Curry and
Mount Moran, by Edward Hopper, both located on the top center.
Seen on the bottom left is The Sheepherder, by Thomas
Hart Benton from 1957. Benton rejected modernist
trends like abstraction in favor of celebrating
the American ethos readily found out West. "I believe
I have wanted, more than anything else, to make pictures,
the imagery of which would carry unmistakably American
meanings for Americans and for as many of them as possible."
"Just after modernism takes hold in America,
all of the sudden many of these artist reject it.
They favored the representation of truly American
themes. They were interested, and Benton, in particular,
of painting regular people doing regular work,
and that that actually is what made our country great."
Dominating the right wall of this bay is Kim Wiggins'
Merging Cultures, commissioned by the Museum
founder Philip Anschutz in 1997. It reflects both
the artist's debt to those who've come before him, as well
as his own roots in a culturally diverse Southwest.
"My work is heavily influenced by the American scene
painters, but it's also influenced by Hispanic folk
art and modernism. This particular piece centers
on the different cultures that made Santa Fe the
center of the American West, and also the art mecca
that it is today." Spend a few minutes with the painting
to enjoy its wonderful narrative details, including
the mariachi band serenading tourists from back East.