Words of Wisdom from E. Martin Hennings

"Art must of necessity be the artist's own reaction to nature, and his personal style is governed by his own temperament, rather than by a style molded through the intellect."

Hennings was an active member of the Taos Society of Artists from 1924 to 1927, but he considered himself independent of art movements.

In Homeward Bound Hennings shows two Taos women, bundled against the cold, hurrying home on a winter afternoon. Tall, dried-up sunflower stalks form a latticework backdrop, rhythmically propelling them along their way. Homeward Bound was painted as part of the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project.

See this painting and more than sixty other artworks in our traveling exhibition, Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum There are just two more days to catch the show at the Akron Art Museum in Ohio, where it is on view until November 26.

Source: Merry Foresta. Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).

Pictured: E. Martin Hennings, 1886–1956, Homeward Bound, about 1933–34, oil, 30 1/4 x 36 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor.