Arroyo Landscape

Victor Higgins, Arroyo Landscape, ca. 1929-1933, watercolor on paper, sheet: 18 x 22 in. (45.7 x 55.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1993.48.5

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Artwork Details

Title: Arroyo Landscape
Artist: Victor Higgins
Date: ca. 1929-1933
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sheet: 18 x 22 in. (45.7 x 55.9 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Arvin Gottlieb
Mediums: watercolor
Mediums Description: watercolor on paper
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Landscape
Object Number: 1993.48.5
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1993.48.5

Artwork Description

Higgins found inspiration in the dramatic landscape around Taos, New Mexico, where he lived after 1914. In Arroyo Landscape, he emphasized the patterns and textures of the land and abstract versions of the distinctive vegetation of the area. Higgins conveyed the dry stream bed and the arid desert atmosphere by applying the watercolor with a relatively dry brush, allowing the texture and whiteness of the paper to heighten the sense of sun-parched land.

Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009