Souvenir Chronicles: NEW MEXICO, DAY 3: TWO TAOS ART MUSEUMS

June 27, 2021

Taos is full of art museums and art galleries, most with a focus on local art. If you are hoping to see a Picasso or a Rembrandt, this is probably not your scene. But if you love the mystery of the Southwest, you'll love Taos.

We visited two art museums back-to-back. The first was the Nicolai Fechin House, home of the Taos Art Museum.

Photo from Wikipedia

Nicolai Fechin (1881-1955) was a Russian artist who immigrated to New York City in 1923. After he contracted tuberculosis, he moved to Taos for the drier climate, where he began to paint Native Americans and the local landscape. The Fechin's purchased an adobe home, which they spent several years remodeling.

After Fechin and his wife Alexandra divorced in 1933, he moved to Southern California, and she kept the house. It is now a museum dedicated to Fechin's works and includes some work by other Taos artists.

Fechin is known for his portraits. I like his style.

Self Portrait (n.d.) by Fechin

Alexandra (1930) [This is Fechin's wife]

The Masquerade (c. 1940)

Indian Girl with Kachina (ca. 1927-1933)

Portrait of Frances Rollins Steen (n.d.)

This was fun--the robe worn by Francis Steen in the portrait above.

My favorite portrait:

Tethered Burro (n.d.)

I am impressed by the range of Nicolai Fechin's talents. He was also a woodcarver. These two undated pieces are entitled Large Pilgrim and Alexandra.

He even worked in bronze:

Grandfather (n.d.)

Along with the portraits, the museum includes several of Fechin's landscapes.

Palm Canyon (n.d.)

Taos Pueblo (1928)

As I mentioned earlier, the museum includes some work by other local artists. Here is a sampling.

Taos Landscape (n.d.) by Joseph Henry Sharp

New Mexico Landscape (n.d.) by John Young-Hunter

War Bonnet Shadows (ca. 1925)
by Bert Geer Phillips

When I was looking up some information about Nicolai Fechin, I ran across two other portraits by him of people I am familiar with: Karl Marx (1918, located in the State Art Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia) and Willa Cather (c. 1927, located in the University of Nebraska Art Museum).

Our second art stop of the afternoon was the Harwood Museum of Art. Founded in 1923 and the second oldest art museum in New Mexico, it has been owned by the University of New Mexico since 1935. It was about a mile from the Fechin House, so we decided to walk it

The walk was worth it just to see this mural on a marijuana shop wall. This is a new use of the Virgin of Guadalupe that I haven't seen before, but a good prelude to what we would see in the Harwood Museum.

The Harwood had a few interesting pieces outside.

If the sculptor had this view of Manhattan in 1972, I wonder what he would think of it now.

Manhattan Totem VII (1972) by Bill Barrett

These chains of paper cranes (called senbazuru in Japan) hanging from the eaves of the Harwood Museum caught my eye. They were made through a collaboration between a Japanese artist named Izumi Yokoyama and students in the Taos school district.

Frida sighting near the ticket booth. Must be a good place.

At first glance, this looks like a standard art museum.

After I looked at the first piece of art I came upon, however, I realized I was in a different dimension. Is that a Franciscan friar and native American on that cloud? The license plate is "PEACE."

Heavenly Drive (2018) by Victor Goler

I think that is Mary and Jesus in the front seat.

OKAY. The Harland Museum had an exhibit of the Mexican-American lowrider culture. If you don't know anything about that, read about it here.

Next up, the Virgin of Guadalupe and a lowrider.

Impala Faith (2021) by Kevin Urban

Well, I thought I would see what else the museum had to offer and come back to the lowriders at the end.

These two pieces are made by the Lopez Family, a respected family of artists well-known for their devotional art. These two are Cruz de Viernes Santo en Chimayo (Holy Friday Cross in Chimayo) and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe), both created in 2019.

I don't know anything about this crucifix, but I like it.

Death Shrine I (1972-1976) by Ken Price is an interesting take on the Day of the Dead shrines common in Mexico.

Decoration Day (1940) by Barbara Latham

There are a lot of more traditional works that I really love:

Acoma (1934) by Gene Kloss

Chamisa in Bloom (c. 1920) by E. Martin Hennings

Winter in New Mexico (c. 1930) by Walter Ufer

Deserted Mining Camp (c. 1940) by Ernest L. Blumenschein

Okay, back to the faith-filled cars. This is one of my favorites. At first glance, it looks like a nice desert drive.

Sacred Heart (2020) by Toby Morfin

Look closer and note the Sacred Heart on a cross on the steering wheel.

Look even closer and see a crucifix dangling from the rearview mirror, an angel carving on the left, and a monk on the right. Also, the exit sign is for Santa Cruize.

A painting by the same artist hangs nearby.

Our Lady of Guadalupe
Watching Over Low Ride
(2020) by Toby Martin

Here is Our Lady of Guadalupe embedded in the grill. Unfortunately, I didn't get the name and artist of this one.

Not a lowrider work, but this woodcarving fits in the transportation genre.

Death Cart (c. 1931-1935) by Patriciño Barela

I'm always a little surprised by how constant the death motif is in Mexican-American art. This is Doña Sebastiana (2006) by Victor Goler.

Whoa! What is this?

The Great Deception from ongoing series "Chariots of the Gods" (2020) by El Moises

The artist's statement is very helpful:

Did you know there are lowrider bicycles? I have seen men riding these in Los Angeles. Check out the crucifix on the back, the crown of thorns over the handlebars . . .