The artworks in this bay were painted by some of the
founders of the Taos Society. One of its most accomplished
members was Ernest Blumenschein, whose painting,
The Peacemaker, hangs in the far right-hand corner.
Its meaning, like many modern works, is open to interpretation.
Kim Wiggins: "Look at Blumenschein's work and you see
this incredible modern quality to his work. This
piece centers around confrontation. And, what
the artist did here is he used this vast Taos gorge
running through the base of the painting, and separating
two sets of figures. The interesting thing is that
this was painted from the point of view of the child.
And once you realize that, you begin to think that
probably the child is the true peacemaker." Blumenschein
was a New York based illustrator, and made his first
trip to the West in 1898. That's when he discovered
Taos. It would become his home in 1919. He later recalled
his first impressions: "The great naked anatomy for
a majestic landscape once tortured, now calm; the
fitness of adobe houses to their tawny surroundings;
the vastness and overwhelming beauty of skies; terrible
drama of storm; peace of night... the superb beauty and
serenity of the hills, stirred me deeply." Blumenschein's
Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the wall to the right
is one of the treasures of this collection. Museum
Director Sarah Hunt: "This is a great example of one
of the important aspects of this collection, in that
the collector was not content simply to have an image
by Blumenschein. If, and whenever possible, he would
want to look for the best example of a Blumenschein."
It demonstrates the artist's evolution from realism
toward abstraction, inspired, in part, by an art show
held at the Armory in New York in 1913 that gave Americans
their first glimpse of non-representational art.
Victor Higgins, one of the members of the Society.
The colorful Pueblo of Taos, from the 1920s, depicts
the Pueblo's residents assembling for the Fiesta
of San Geronimo. Higgins was influenced by Modernist
trends, such as Cubism, and the work of other Taos artists.
On the right wall is Walter Ufer's group portrait,
Paint and Indians. Sarah Hunt: "Paint and Indians is
a particular favorite of mine, a realistic painting
that really isn't. We know that this is Ufer himself,
in his studio, and behind his shoulder his houseman
and friend, Jim Mirabal, and probably Mirabal's wife
is the woman here who glowers at the artist. Ultimately,
it's really a painting about the nature of reality,
in that we are looking at an artist painting a portrait
that could be a mirror image of what is going on in
the studio. It's really an interesting intellectual
exercise, the more time you spend looking at this painting."
Santa Fe was eager to establish its own
art colony to rival that of nearby Taos, and lured
artists there with promises of free studio and exhibition
space. On the left wall of this bay are two paintings
by one of those artists, Józef Bakós, who was fascinated
by the mingling of American Indian and Spanish cultures
in the Southwest. "In these works, you're really able to experience
this long history of Hispanic culture, from the Spanish
in the 16th century. These works speak to the
presence of crucifixes, santos, retablos, Hispanic
furniture. Many of these artists painted those
elements, but some of them actually collected Hispanic
folk art. And so, a lot of that appears in the works
of the Santa Fe artists, in particular."
To the right is Chama Running Red, by John Sloan. A New Yorker, Sloan
took his first trip to Santa Fe in 1919 and thereafter
spent several months a year in the Southwest. He
said that in this painting: "The river is running like
pink tomato soup down to the Rio Grande and the Gulf
of Mexico, carrying off the good red earth." Above the
door on your right is a portrait of a young resident
of the Pueblo Tesuque, painted by Robert Henri in 1917.
Henri is more typically associated with paintings
of gritty scenes of New York City, but here he uses his
bravura brushwork and colorful palette to capture
the atmosphere of the West. "I think most pictures
of the Southwest are to a great extent false because the
painters get blinded into whiteness, make pale pictures
where the real color of New Mexico is deep and strong."
Henri was a renowned teacher and introduced many
of the students and other artists to Santa Fe. One
of them was George Bellows, whose painting Pueblo, Tesuque,
Number One hangs to the lower right. Another
New York artist famous for his scenes of urban life,
he, too, fell in love with the Southwest. Perhaps the
bustling communal pueblos of New Mexico, like this
one, reminded him of his hometown.