The Harwood Museum of Art is located in

Taos Taos or TAOS may refer to: Places * Taos, Missouri, a city in Cole County, Missouri, United States * Taos County, New Mexico, United States ** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico *** Taos art colony, an art colo ...

, New Mexico. Founded in 1923 by the

Harwood Foundation Harwood Foundation is a non-profit organization in Taos, New Mexico that was listed as a National Register of Historic Places in 1976. For seventy-five years, serving as a public library, museum, auditorium, classrooms and meeting rooms, the Harwo ...

, it is the second oldest art museum in New Mexico. Its collections include a wide range of Hispanic works and visual arts from the

Taos Society of Artists The Taos Society of Artists was an organization of visual arts founded in Taos, New Mexico. Established in 1915, it was disbanded in 1927. The Society was essentially a commercial cooperative, as opposed to a stylistic collective, and its foundation ...

, Taos Moderns, and contemporary artists. In 1935 the museum was purchased by the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

. Since then the property has been expanded to include an auditorium, library and additional exhibition space.

Collections

The Harwood Museum of Art in Taos has a permanent collection of over 1,700 works of art and 17,000 photographic images. The collection dates from the 19th century to the present and reflects the multicultural heritages and influences of the Taos artistic community. The categories of works include:

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

, Taos Moderns, Contemporary, and Prints, Drawings and Photographs.

Hispanic collection

The Harwood Museum has a collection of a broad range of

works, including paintings,

tinware Tinware is any item made of prefabricated tinplate. Usually tinware refers to kitchenware made of tinplate, often crafted by tinsmiths. Many cans used for canned food are tinware as well. Something that is tinned after being shaped and fabricated i ...

and

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...

reflecting craftsmanship going back to the beginning of

Spanish colonization The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its History ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

Woodworking

Too expensive to have furniture shipped from

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, New Mexicans established carpentry shops in late 18th Century and early 19th Century where carved furniture was made, such as cajas (storage chests), harineros (grain chests), and trasteros (kitchen cupboards). The Valdez workshop in Taos County created works distinguished by incised asterisk markings; Some works were brightly colored in red and blue.

Tin work

Tin work served as an integral part of Hispanic religious culture during the 19th Century. Tin cans, glass panes and religious prints were fashioned into devotional objects. There were 13 workshops in New Mexico from 1840 to 1915 thirteen workshops in New Mexico. By the turn of the century tinsmiths primarily created items for the home, such as sconces, lanterns and trinket boxes.

Santos

Santos, sacred images of

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

for homes and churches, were made in New Mexico since the late 1700s. The museum's collection includes works donated by

Mabel Dodge Luhan Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan (pronounced ''LOO-hahn''; née Ganson; February 26, 1879 – August 13, 1962) was a wealthy American patron of the arts, who was particularly associated with the Taos art colony. Early life Mabel Ganson was the heir ...

made between 1800-1850 and contemporary works. The Harwood has the largest publicly owned collection of secular works by

Patrociño Barela Patrociño Barela, also known as Patrocinio Barela or Patrocino Barela (1900–1964), was a self-taught wood carver. Because of the religious nature of his subjects he was called a santo (art), santero, but he did secular work too. His work was ...

(1900-1964), an acclaimed leader for contemporary santeros. Some of the museum's pieces include carvings show at a premier at

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York.

Spanish Colonial revival

During the 1920s and 1930s there was

Spanish Colonial revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

reflected in many forms of art, including furniture, tinware, architecture and

colcha embroidery Colcha embroidery from the southwest United States is a form of surface embroidery that uses wool threads on cotton or linen fabric. During the Spanish Colonial period, the word ''colcha'' referred to a densely embroidered wool coverlet. In ti ...

. State and Federal government and private foundations funded programs to hire instructors to teach craftsmanship. The New Deal's Taos Crafts

smithing A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest metalworking occupations. Shaping metal with a h ...

and furniture school resulted in pieces made in wood and tin, such as tin work chandeliers, armarios (cabinets), bancos (benches), mesas (tables) and sillas (chairs) that are used in the gallery or offices of the Harwood.

Taos Society of Artists

The

, inspired by the

Taos Pueblo Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest c ...

people and the Taos landscape, was formed in 1915 by European trained artists

Joseph Henry Sharp Joseph Henry Sharp (September 27, 1859 – August 29, 1953) was an American painter and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists, of which he is considered the "Spiritual Father". Sharp was one of the earliest European-American artists t ...

Bert Geer Phillips Bert Geer Phillips (July 15, 1868 – June 16, 1956) was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He settled in Taos, New Mexico (1898) and was a founder of the Taos art colony. He is known for his paintings of N ...

Ernest L. Blumenschein Ernest Leonard Blumenschein (May 26, 1874 – June 6, 1960) was an American artist and founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico and the American Southwest. Early life and educat ...

Oscar E. Berninghaus Oscar Edmund Berninghaus (October 2, 1874 – April 27, 1952) was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is best known for his paintings of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans, New Mexico ...

E. Irving Couse Eanger Irving Couse (September 3, 1866 – April 26, 1936) was an American artist and a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists. Born and reared in Saginaw, Michigan, he went to New York City and Paris to study art. Wh ...

and

W. Herbert Dunton William Herbert "Buck" Dunton (August 28, 1878 – March 18, 1936) was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of cowboys, New Mexico, and the Southwestern United States, American Southwe ...

. They wanted an organization like the

Barbizon School The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name f ...

of artists who painted landscapes in the Barbizon region of France. The Taos Society of Artists coordinated traveling shows of society members' works throughout the United States. Their work was generally of Native Americans,

Hispanics The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties former ...

and early

Anglo-Americans Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

settlers and landscapes. The organization disbanded in 1927.

Taos Moderns

In the 1940s a group of artists, some able to study under the

G.I. bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, came to Taos with influences from European and American

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

. Without knowing the history of the local art colony, artists came from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, centers for abstract painting that emerged after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. By the 1950s Taos had become one of the major centers for

in the country. The artists became known as the "Taos Moderns". Andrew Dasbug came to Taos and was a mentor to many of the new artists. Some of the emerging artists from this period include:

Thomas Benrimo Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

Agnes Martin Agnes Bernice Martin (March 22, 1912 – December 16, 2004), was an American abstract painter. Her work has been defined as an "essay in discretion on inward-ness and silence". Although she is often considered or referred to as a minimalist, Mart ...

, Clay Spohn, and Edward Corbett. Other visiting artists include

Richard Diebenkorn Richard Diebenkorn (April 22, 1922 – March 30, 1993) was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s he bega ...

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...

Ad Reinhardt Adolph Dietrich Friedrich Reinhardt (December 24, 1913 – August 30, 1967) was an abstract painter active in New York for more than three decades. He was a member of the American Abstract Artists (AAA) and part of the movement centere ...

Clyfford Still Clyfford Still (November 30, 1904 – June 23, 1980) was an American painter, and one of the leading figures in the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, who developed a new, powerful approach to painting in the years immediately follo ...

, and

Morris Graves Morris Graves (August 28, 1910 – May 5, 2001) was an American painter. He was one of the earliest Modern artists from the Pacific Northwest to achieve national and international acclaim. His style, referred to by some reviewers as Mysticism, ...

. Like earlier artists, they portrayed the colorful New Mexican landscape and cultural influences, such as the "timelessness they perceived in

Puebloan The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zun ...

culture and the deep connection to the land they noted in the everyday life of both Native Americans and Hispanics influence experimentation and innovation in their own art." Rather than capturing realist images of people and the landscape, they sought to capture the true meaning of their subjects.

Contemporary

The 1960s and 1970s was a transitional period for the

Taos art colony The Taos art colony was an art colony founded in Taos, New Mexico, by artists attracted by the culture of the Taos Pueblo and northern New Mexico. The history of Hispanic craftsmanship in furniture, tin work, and other mediums also played a rol ...

. People who had been guiding forces of the art colony died, such as

Andrew Dasburg Andrew Michael Dasburg (4 May 1887 – 13 August 1979) was an American modernist painter and "one of America's leading early exponents of cubism". Biography Dasburg was born in 1887 in Paris. He emigrated from Germany to New York City with ...

, Emil Bisttram, and

Dorothy Brett Hon. Dorothy Eugénie Brett (10 November 1883 – 27 August 1977) was an Anglo-American painter, remembered as much for her social life as for her art. Born into an aristocratic British family, she lived a sheltered early life. During her ...

. There was also an influx of a new generation of artists when

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...

came to Taos to complete final rough cut of "Easy Rider". He stayed and bought the

property and, like her, encouraged artists, musicians and celebrities to visit him in Taos. Contemporary artists such as

Ronald Davis Ronald "Ron" Davis (born 1937) is an American painter whose work is associated with geometric abstraction, abstract illusionism, lyrical abstraction, hard-edge painting, shaped canvas painting, color field painting, and 3D computer graphics. He ...

Kenneth Price Kenneth Price (February 16, 1935February 24, 2012) was an American artist who predominantly created ceramic sculpture. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute and Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design) in Los Angeles, before re ...

, Larry Bell, Ron Cooper, Gus Foster,

Lee Mullican Lee Mullican (December 2, 1919 – July 8, 1998) was an American painter, curator, and art teacher. He was an influential member of the Dynaton Movement. Early life and education Lee Mullican was born on December 2, 1919, in Chickasha, Oklah ...

, Larry Calcagno and

R. C. Gorman Rudolph Carl Gorman (July 26, 1931 – November 3, 2005) was a Native American artist of the Navajo Nation. Referred to as "the Picasso of American Indian artists" by ''The New York Times'', his paintings are primarily of Native American wo ...

came to Taos; Some moved to Taos permanently and others spent part of each year in Taos. Price's project known as Happy's Curios was shown at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

. The Harwood Museum has one of the larger pieces, "Death Shrine 1" from that collection on extended loan. Harwood's collection include a retrospective of 18-20 works by Larry Calcagno and R. C. Ellis. Taos is a second home for artists from the east and west coasts, continuing Taos art colony's international reputation. In 2009 the Harwood Museum held a group exhibition curated by

called ''Hopper Curates - Larry Bell, Ron Cooper,

& Robert Dean Stockwell ''.Harwood Museum
Retrieved February 10, 2011
Retrieved February 10, 2011

Prints, drawings and photographs

The Harwood Museum of Art displays works from their permanent collection of prints, drawings and photographs and works on loan. The Museum collection includes works of early artists, such as Howard Cook, Joseph Imhoff, Gene Kloss,

Nicolai Fechin , birth_date = , birth_place = Kazan, Russia , death_date = , death_place = Santa Monica, California United States , spouse = , known_for = Painting , orientation = , training = Imperial Academy of Arts Kaz ...

, and

Walter Ufer Walter Ufer (July 22, 1876 – August 2, 1936) was an American artist based in Taos, New Mexico. His most notable work focuses on scenes of Native American life, particularly of the Pueblo Indians. Life and career Ufer was born in Germany a ...

. Imhoff first brought a

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

to Taos. The works of the works of Tom Benrimo,

, Earl Stroh, and Louis Leon Ribak represent the Taos Moderns. The collection also has prints and drawings from more recent artists, such as Larry Calcagno, R.C. Ellis,

, Joe Waldrum,

Vija Celmins Vija Celmins (pronounced VEE-ya SELL-muns;Hilarie M. Sheets and Randy Kennedy (September 24, 2015)''New York Times''. lv, Vija Celmiņa, pronounced TSEL-meen-ya) is a Latvian American visual artist best known for photo-realistic paintings and dr ...

, Wes Mills, and Bill Gersh. The collection includes more than 17,000 photographic images of Taos art and artists, Hispanic villages and Indian Pueblos.

History

Burt and Elizabeth Harwood left their home in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1916 to move to

where they purchased a cluster of small adobe buildings on Ledoux Street. Over the next three years Burt Harwood directed the remodeling of the buildings, in keeping with local construction techniques, and named the complex "El Pueblito". When the Harwoods realized there was no town library in Taos they opened their extensive private library to the public.

supported their efforts through book and financial donations. Often exhibitions of pottery, textiles, wood sculptures and santos were displayed at Harwood; The museum, founded in 1923, is the second oldest art museum in the state. In 1929 the

opened a Field School of Art at Harwood. The Harwood Foundation was given to the University of New Mexico in 1935 and became a source of programs for the university in

Taos County, New Mexico Taos County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 32,937. Its county seat is Taos. The county was formed in 1852 as one of the original nine counties in New Mexico Territory. Taos County compris ...

. It was expanded in 1937 as designed by

John Gaw Meem John Gaw Meem IV (November 17, 1894 – August 4, 1983) was an American architect based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is best known for his instrumental role in the development and popularization of the Pueblo Revival Style and as a proponent of ar ...

to include an auditorium, stage, exhibition space, and a library facility. In 1997 the Harwood Museum opened another major renovation and expansion, including the

Gallery to house seven paintings donated by the artist to the museum. The gift of the paintings, and the design of the octagonal space to the artist's specifications by Albuquerque architectural firm, Kells & Craig, were negotiated and overseen by museum director Robert M. Ellis, a close friend of Martin's. The Agnes Martin Gallery attracts visitors from all over the world and has been compared by scholars to the

Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence The Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence (Chapel of the Rosary), often referred to as the Matisse Chapel or the Vence Chapel, is a small Catholic chapel located in the town of Vence on the French Riviera. It was dedicated to the Dominican Order. The chu ...

(Matisse Chapel), Corbusier's Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, and the

Rothko Chapel The Rothko Chapel is a wiktionary:nondenominational, non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas, founded by John de Ménil, John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art: on its wal ...

in Houston.

References

External links

*
Taos Museums
{{authority control 1923 establishments in New Mexico Adobe buildings and structures in New Mexico Art museums established in 1923 Art museums and galleries in New Mexico Hispanic and Latino American culture in New Mexico Latino museums in the United States Museums in Taos, New Mexico University museums in New Mexico Pueblo Revival architecture in New Mexico