Picuris Mountain (Near Taos)

Ernest L. Blumenschein, Picuris Mountain (Near Taos), ca. 1940, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1993.48.3
Copied Ernest L. Blumenschein, Picuris Mountain (Near Taos), ca. 1940, oil on canvas, 10 1425 38 in. (26.164.4 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1993.48.3

Artwork Details

Title
Picuris Mountain (Near Taos)
Date
ca. 1940
Dimensions
10 1425 38 in. (26.164.4 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Arvin Gottlieb
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Landscape — New Mexico
  • Landscape — mountain — Picuris Mountain
Object Number
1993.48.3

Artwork Description

Ernest Blumenschein began his career as a commercial illustrator but was best known as a painter of the Southwest. He moved to Taos, New Mexico, permanently in 1919 at the age of forty-five. Taos was a haven for artists who were tired of the pressures of the New York and Chicago art worlds and the gritty urban environment. They flocked to New Mexico hoping to find an “authentic” American landscape and people. (Eldredge et al., Art in New Mexico, 1900-1945: Paths to Taos and Santa Fe, 1986) Blumenschein’s vibrant paintings of the landscape capture his enthusiasm for his new home. The cool blues and whites of Picuris Mountain leap out of the canvas and create a sense of the dry, clean desert air while the pulsating reds and browns of the foreground convey the heat of scorching sun.

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