Taos, New Mexico

Taos, New Mexico

c. 1921
Artist
Victor Higgins, American, 1884-1949
Country
United States
Object
painting
Medium
Oil painting on canvas
Accession Number
2013.462
Credit Line
Gift from Dr. George C. Peck and Catherine M. Peck

Victor Higgins, Taos, New Mexico, about 1921. Oil on canvas; 52 x 56 in. Denver Art Museum: Gift from Dr. George C. Peck and Catherine M. Peck, 2013.462

Dimensions
frame height: 59 3/4 in, 151.7650 cm; frame width: 64 in, 162.5600 cm; frame depth: 2 1/4 in, 5.7150 cm; height: 52 in, 132.0800 cm; width: 56 in, 142.2400 cm
Department
Petrie Institute of Western American Art
Collection
Petrie Institute of Western American Art
This object is currently on view

Mabel Dodge Luhan, a patron of the arts who lived in Taos, wrote that Victor Higgins “can say more with his pearly tones than most painters do with the whole solid color scale.” Using those pearly tones, Higgins evoked crisp, winter air and contrasted sloping hills with sharp, blue shadows. A sturdy line of adobe architecture nestled beneath soaring mountains underscores what Luhan called his “dramatic appreciation” of the region’s sublime landscapes and its people.

Según Mabel Dodge Luhan, una mecenas de las artes que vivía en Taos, Victor Higgins “puede decir más con sus tonos nacarados que lo que dicen la mayoría de los pintores con toda la escala de colores sólidos”. Usando esos tonos nacarados, Higgins evocó el fresco aire invernal y contrastó colinas de suaves pendientes con intensas sombras azules. Una línea sólida de arquitectura de adobe cobijada bajo unas montañas majestuosas subraya lo que Luhan llamó su “apreciación dramática” de los sublimes paisajes y la gente de esta región.

Known Provenance
(Schweitzer Gallery), New York, NY; Dr. George C. Peck; Gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2013
Exhibition History
  • "Seventh Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists"—Detroit Museum of Art, 1921
  • "96th Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture"—National Academy of Design, NY. 3/5/1921 - 4/3/1921
  • "34th Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture"—The Art Institute of Chicago, 11/3/1921 - 12/1/1921
  • "17th Annual Exhibition," City Art Museum, St. Louis, MO. 1922
  • "117th Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture"—Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 2/5/1922 - 3/26/1922
  • "The 9th Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings"—Corcoran Gallery of Art, 12/16/1922 - 1/20/1923
  • "Sesquicentennial International Exhibition"—Philadelphia, PA. 1926
  • Museum of New Mexico, 1957
  • "Picturesque Images from Taos and Santa Fe"—Denver Art Museum, 1/12/1974 - 3/17/1974
  • "The Taos Society of Artists, Southwestern American Art: Selections from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. George Peck"—Vero Beach Museum of Art, 11/19/2004 - 2/20/2005
  • "BackStory: Western American Art in Context"—History Colorado, 3/18/2017 - 2/11/2018