Modernists in New Mexico
Works from a Private Collector
February 13, 2009 - May 10, 2009

Curator: Alan Braddock, Associate Curator, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

In 1916, the painter Robert Henri left New York for the first of three visits to Santa Fe in search of new artistic inspiration. He did so at a pivotal moment in the early history of American Modernism, during the Great War and amid the aftermath of the sensational Armory Show in New York, when many of his compatriots were responding inventively to the aesthetic challenge posed by the European avant-garde. Captivated by the beautiful, unfamiliar western places and peoples of New Mexico, Henri encouraged two close friends and colleagues – George Bellows and John Sloan – to follow his lead. Before long, many American Modernists trekked to New Mexico as well, including Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Stuart Davis, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Edward Hopper. Some visited only once or stayed for just a short time while others (notably O’Keeffe and Sloan) became long-time residents; for all these American Modernists, though, visiting and picturing New Mexico became an artistic rite of passage of sorts – a catalyst for aesthetic reinvention.

 

This exhibition from the collection of an anonymous New Mexico collector provides an excellent selection of American Modernist visions of New Mexico during the first half of the twentieth-century. Since he moved to Santa Fe eleven years ago and saw one of John Marin’s New Mexico pictures at a local gallery, the owner of this collection has passionately pursued his love of American Modernism by collecting works that creatively engage the area’s distinctive environments, landmarks, and residents while also participating in an emerging international artistic movement. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is delighted to be able to exhibit this superb selection, which demonstrates the richly productive encounter between some of America’s most innovative twentieth-century painters and one of their favorite sources of inspiration.