Ernest L. Blumenschein, Dance at Taos, 1923, oil on canvas. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Gift of Florence Dibbell Bartlett, 1947 (97.23P). Photo by Blair ClarkNMMA News:
SANTA FE ― The New Mexico Museum of Art is opening a new exhibition celebrating New Mexico’s rich history as a mecca for artists – Good Company: Five Artist Communities in New Mexico. The exhibition opens September 29 and runs through March 10, 2019.
An opening reception for the exhibition is from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 5, 2018.
Since the end of the nineteenth century, when some of the first academically trained artists began to settle in Taos, later forming the Taos Society of Artists, New Mexico has continued to provide fertile ground for artists to gather together and create a forum for their individual visions.
The role of artist communities in New Mexico is explored through works by members of the Taos Society of Artists, Los Cinco Pintores, Transcendental Painting Group, Rio Grande Painters, and the Stieglitz circle. Each of these groups had a distinctive aesthetic and set of guiding principles Good Company offers a closer look at what makes each unique.
“New Mexico’s rich history and allure to generations of artists is the basis for this exhibition which explores common ground as well as the different aesthetics of each group,” said Mary Kershaw, director of the New Mexico Museum of Art. “We encourage everyone to make the time to immerse themselves in Good Company.”
W. Herbert Dunton, My Children, 1920, oil on canvas, 50 × 60 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Gift of a friend, 1927 (351.23P). Photo by Blair Clark
Florence Miller Pierce, Untitled, 1952, oil on board. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Museum purchase with funds from the Collectors’ Club, 1998 (1998.15.1). Photo by Blair Clark. © New Mexico Museum of Art
Emil Bisttram, Projection #1, 1961, oil on canvas, 44 x 33 in. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Gift of Elizabeth and Duncan Boeckman, 2005 (2005.34.2). Photo by Blair Clark
Stuart Walker, Composition No. 57, 1939, oil on canvas. Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Museum purchase with additional support from Frederick Hammersley and Robert Nurock, 2009 (2009.3). Photo by Blair Clark
Paul Lantz, Snow in Santa Fe, circa 1935, oil on Masonite, 30 x 48 in. On long term loan to the New Mexico Museum of Art from the Fine Arts Program, Public Buildings Service, U.S. General Services Administration (2834.23P). Photo by Blair Clark