William Victor Higgins (June 28, 1884 – August 23, 1949) was an American painter and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, born in

Shelbyville, Indiana Shelbyville is a city in Addison Township, Shelby County, in the U.S. state of Indiana and is the county seat. The population was 20,067 as of the 2020 census. History In 1818, the land that would become Shelbyville was ceded to the U ...

. At the age of fifteen, he moved to Chicago, where he studied at the Art Institute in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and at the

Chicago Academy of Fine Arts The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum an ...

. In

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

he was a pupil of

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

, René Menard and

Lucien Simon Lucien Joseph Simon (1861 – 1945) was a French painter and teacher born in Paris. Early life and education Simon was born in Paris. After graduating from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he studied painting at the studio of Jules Didier, then from ...

, and when he was in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

he studied with Hans von Hayek. He was an associate of the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

. Higgins moved to

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Ch ...

in 1913 and joined 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 ...

(alongside E. Irving Couse,

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 ...

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 ...

and others) in 1917. In 1923 he was on the founding board of the Harwood Foundation with Elizabeth (Lucy) Harwood and

Bert 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 ...

Personal

He married Sara Parsons, daughter of Santa Fe painter, Sheldon Parsons, and they had a daughter, Joan. He was later briefly married to Marion Koogler McNay of San Antonio, Texas.

Artwork

While living in New Mexico, he often painted portraits of Native American women. During the Depression, he was commissioned to paint a mural inside the Taos County Courthouse financed by the PWAP, titled ''Moises, El Legislador''. WLA ima Higgins Indian Girl with Parrot and Hoop

WLA ima Higgins Indian Girl with Parrot and Hoop

Among his paintings are: *"Winter Funeral," in

Harwood Museum of Art The Harwood Museum of Art is located in Taos, New Mexico. Founded in 1923 by the Harwood Foundation, 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 ...

, Taos, New Mexico *"Moorland Gorse and Bracken," in the Municipal Gallery, Chicago *"Moorland Piper," Terre Haute Art Association *"Juanito, the Suspicious Cat," In the Union League Club, Chicago *"Women of Taos," Santa Fe Railroad *"A Shrine to St. Anthony," Des Moines Association of Fine Arts *"Fiesta Day," Butler Art Institute,

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whi ...

*"Pueblo of Taos," Los Angeles Museum *"Indian at Stream," Los Angeles Museum *"Taos from the Hillside,"

Richmond Art Museum The Richmond Art Museum was founded in 1898 as the Art Association of Richmond, Indiana. Artist John Elwood Bundy and author and attorney William Dudley Foulke were instrumental in the founding. Permanent collection Its collection includes imp ...

*"Baking Bread, Taos",

Eiteljorg Museum The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art is an art museum in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The Eiteljorg houses an extensive collection of visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas as well as Western Ame ...

, Indianapolis *"The Blue Shawl", Eiteljorg Museum *"Talpa Landscape", Eiteljorg Museum *"Abiquiu Country", Eiteljorg Museum *"New Mexico Skies", Snite Museum of Art *"Taos Street in Winter", New Mexico Museum of Art *"Floral Still Life", New Mexico Museum of Art *"Pablita Passes", New Mexico Museum of Art *"Indian Paint Brush," New Mexico Museum of Art *"Oka and Walmacho,"

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

*"Arroyo Landscape," Smithsonian American Art Museum *"Mountain Forms #2," Smithsonian American Art Museum *"Valley Spring," Smithsonian American Art Museum *"A Market Place in France," Medicine Man Gallery

References

Sources

External links

Higgins paintings in New Mexico Museum of ArtGuide to the Victor Higgins Papers
from the New Mexico Museum of Art Library and Archive 1884 births 1949 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters Artists from Taos, New Mexico Artists of the American West National Academy of Design members Painters from Indiana Painters from New Mexico People from Shelbyville, Indiana Students of Robert Henri Taos Society of Artists Federal Art Project artists School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni 20th-century American male artists {{NewMexico-stub