Medicine Man Gallery owner Dr. Mark Sublette discusses the history of the Taos Founders with painting examples of all the Society members. Learn what to look for and price structure of the Taos colony paintings Website: https://www.medicinemangallery.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicinemangallery Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicinemangallery Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/art-dealer-diaries/id1384036101?mt=2 The Taos Society Artist Colony, History and Paintings Today one of the most interesting things I like to talk about is the Taos founders, or Taos Society, as they were called. It was a group of individuals (mainly Eastern trained artists) that came to Taos, and they formed society – an art colony basically – and it lasted from 1915 to 1927. It started by almost an accident, actually. Bert Phillips who was an artist and E.L. Blumenschein came to Taos by accident. They were painting Colorado (and) decided to come down to New Mexico. They had heard about Taos from another artist named Joseph Henry Sharp, and they broke their wagon down about 20 miles outside of town. They had to flip a coin – Blumenschein lost the coin toss and they took the wagon back to Taos. The wheel – after it was fixed – they both spent time in Taos, and realized: it's a great place. The Pueblo was there; they had wonderful blue skies, and Hispanic culture. Phillip said, “I'm staying,” and he did. He stayed there for the rest of the life. Blumenschein, who still was doing illustration in New York City, went back to New York City and came every summer to Taos to paint. But, during that timeframe, he talked to other artists, and he wanted to build the Taos colony. One of the artists he talked to (who actually didn't become one of the town's founders because he really was a loner, and just didn't see himself being a part of this group) was Maynard Dixon. Blumenschein knew Dixon, who was working in New York City, and Dixon worked there from 1907 to 1912. And at that time Dixon knew about New Mexico. He had been there at the turn of the century, but he didn't really feel like he wanted to be a joint as a group. Dixon came back in 1931, and when he did, he realized what a wonderful place it was, and actually had written Harold Juan Schmidt a letter that says, “Wow, what a fool I am to not have gone to Taos sooner.” Some that did go to Taos though were Buck Dutton. Buck Dutton worked as a underneath Blumenschein at the New York school academy, and he said, “Yeah, I want to come down,” and he did. In 1912, he came and he fell in love with Taos. E.I. Couse came in 1902, as well as Joseph Henry Sharp, and not long after that Oscar Berninghaus came as well. So, those were the six that really founded it. They were known as the founders of the Taos Society. A little later on others came like E. Martin Hennings and Walter Ufer. These were two really wonderful artists that many people think as being Taos founders and they are, but they weren't one of the main groups. You also had Victor Higgins and Adams – these were the main founders of the group. Then there was some accessory people that came later that really weren't founders, and they were associate members like Birger Sandzen and Catherine Critcher. These were individuals that were very good, and they were part of the Taos Founder group as an associate, but they really weren't one of the founding members. These are highly collectible paintings. People still look for these paintings; they are can bring millions of dollars, if there are a major painting So, you want to think of those names, and you want to know about the Taos founders.

• published: 17 Jun 2016
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