Field Trip: Taos Paintings
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HOST: American artists have been inspired by the landscape and the people of New Mexico for over a century. Beginning in the early 1900s, the Taos Society of Artists produced several successful American painters. ROADSHOW appraiser Betty Krulik is on hand to talk about these remarkable artists. HOST: Tell me about the Taos Artist Colony and how it came to be.
APPRAISER:
Ernest Blumenschein was sent to the Southwest in 1896 on an illustration assignment for McClure's Magazine. He fell in love with the light and the landscape, and in 1898 convinced his friend Bert Phillips to come with him on a road trip from Denver to Mexico. Along the way, their cart got stuck in a rut, the wheel broke, they flipped a coin, and Blumenschein had to walk 20 miles to Taos to get the wheel fixed. The people were wonderful, they were warm and welcoming, so he brought his friends back to Taos every summer. And in 1915, they established the Taos Society of Artists, and the original six were Joseph Henry Sharp, Blumenschein, Buck Dunton, Irving Couse, Bert Phillips, and Oscar Berninghaus.
HOST: Let's take a closer look at Blumenschein's work.
APPRAISER:
This is Star Road, the young fellow that was to become the governor of the Taos Pueblo. And he is eclipsing White Sun, the elder. You see that not only in the placement in the painting, but also in their attire, Star Road wearing Western attire and White Sun in traditional.
HOST: And also, we see influences that we haven't necessarily seen in paintings of the day in the Southwest where we'd see cowboys painting romantic scenes. We have... the Taos artists are trained in Paris.
APPRAISER:
Exactly. And in this painting, you see a kind of a mix of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, Deco being the strong, bold, very hard lines and beautiful shapes. And then the sinuous lines and the rhythm of the Art Nouveau in the landscape. The market for his landscapes is generally between about $300,000 and $500,000 in the private market. A masterpiece such as this did sell for over $2 million in the private market.
HOST: Well, it's a beautiful representation of what was going on on the Taos Artist Colony, and thanks so much for the background.
APPRAISER:
Thank you so much.
Appraisal Details
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