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The artworks in this bay were painted by some of the

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founders of the Taos Society. One of its most accomplished

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members was Ernest Blumenschein, whose painting,

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The Peacemaker, hangs in the far right-hand corner.

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Its meaning, like many modern works, is open to interpretation.

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Kim Wiggins: "Look at Blumenschein's work and you see

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this incredible modern quality to his work. This

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piece centers around confrontation. And, what

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the artist did here is he used this vast Taos gorge

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running through the base of the painting, and separating

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two sets of figures. The interesting thing is that

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this was painted from the point of view of the child.

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And once you realize that, you begin to think that

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probably the child is the true peacemaker." Blumenschein

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was a New York based illustrator, and made his first

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trip to the West in 1898. That's when he discovered

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Taos. It would become his home in 1919. He later recalled

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his first impressions: "The great naked anatomy for

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a majestic landscape once tortured, now calm; the

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fitness of adobe houses to their tawny surroundings;

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the vastness and overwhelming beauty of skies; terrible

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drama of storm; peace of night... the superb beauty and

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serenity of the hills, stirred me deeply." Blumenschein's

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Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the wall to the right

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is one of the treasures of this collection. Museum

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Director Sarah Hunt: "This is a great example of one

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of the important aspects of this collection, in that

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the collector was not content simply to have an image

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by Blumenschein. If, and whenever possible, he would

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want to look for the best example of a Blumenschein."

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It demonstrates the artist's evolution from realism

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toward abstraction, inspired, in part, by an art show

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held at the Armory in New York in 1913 that gave Americans

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their first glimpse of non-representational art.

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The artists in this bay were influential members

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of the Taos Society of Artists, whom you heard about

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earlier in this tour. On the bottom left is a work by

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Victor Higgins, one of the members of the Society.

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The colorful Pueblo of Taos, from the 1920s, depicts

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the Pueblo's residents assembling for the Fiesta

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of San Geronimo. Higgins was influenced by Modernist

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trends, such as Cubism, and the work of other Taos artists.

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On the right wall is Walter Ufer's group portrait,

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Paint and Indians. Sarah Hunt: "Paint and Indians is

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a particular favorite of mine, a realistic painting

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that really isn't. We know that this is Ufer himself,

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in his studio, and behind his shoulder his houseman

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and friend, Jim Mirabal, and probably Mirabal's wife

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is the woman here who glowers at the artist. Ultimately,

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it's really a painting about the nature of reality,

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in that we are looking at an artist painting a portrait

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that could be a mirror image of what is going on in

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the studio. It's really an interesting intellectual

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exercise, the more time you spend looking at this painting." 

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Santa Fe was eager to establish its own

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art colony to rival that of nearby Taos, and lured

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artists there with promises of free studio and exhibition

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space. On the left wall of this bay are two paintings

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by one of those artists, Józef Bakós, who was fascinated

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by the mingling of American Indian and Spanish cultures

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in the Southwest. "In these works, you're really able to experience

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this long history of Hispanic culture, from the Spanish

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in the 16th century. These works speak to the

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presence of crucifixes, santos, retablos, Hispanic

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furniture. Many of these artists painted those

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elements, but some of them actually collected Hispanic

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folk art. And so, a lot of that appears in the works

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of the Santa Fe artists, in particular." 

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To the right is Chama Running Red, by John Sloan. A New Yorker, Sloan

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took his first trip to Santa Fe in 1919 and thereafter

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spent several months a year in the Southwest. He

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said that in this painting: "The river is running like

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pink tomato soup down to the Rio Grande and the Gulf

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of Mexico, carrying off the good red earth." Above the

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door on your right is a portrait of a young resident

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of the Pueblo Tesuque, painted by Robert Henri in 1917.

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Henri is more typically associated with paintings

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of gritty scenes of New York City, but here he uses his

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bravura brushwork and colorful palette to capture

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the atmosphere of the West. "I think most pictures

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of the Southwest are to a great extent false because the

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painters get blinded into whiteness, make pale pictures

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where the real color of New Mexico is deep and strong."

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Henri was a renowned teacher and introduced many

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of the students and other artists to Santa Fe. One

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of them was George Bellows, whose painting Pueblo, Tesuque,

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Number One hangs to the lower right. Another

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New York artist famous for his scenes of urban life,

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he, too, fell in love with the Southwest. Perhaps the

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bustling communal pueblos of New Mexico, like this

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one, reminded him of his hometown.