
Mary Greene and
Ernest L.
Blumenschein

Ranchos
de Taos Church, 1929 oil on canvas by Ernest Blumenschein
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In
the early autumn of 1898, a
fortuitous accident resulted in Taos becoming a great American art
colony. Having recently returned from studies in Paris, young American
artists Ernest L. Blumenschein and Bert G. Phillips were on a sketching
trip from Denver to northern Mexico when the wheel of their surrey
broke on the mountainous road just north of Taos. The ensuing delay
gave them time to become captivated by the spectacular landscape and
remarkable cultures of the Taos Valley. Phillips remained in Taos from
that time forward. Blumenschein came back nearly every summer until
1919, when he, Mary Greene Blumenschein, also an artist, and daughter
Helen purchased a 1797 structure for their permanent home.
Blumenschein and Phillips were
instrumental in establishing the famous Taos Society of Artists. The
society was organized to promote the splendor of Taos and the art of
the American West to ever greater audiences.
The Blumenschein Home and Museum is
maintained much as it was when the artist and his family were alive.
The home is filled with a superb collection of the Blumenschein
family's art, a representative sampling of works by other famous Taos
artists, fine European and Spanish Colonial style antiques, and the
family's lifetime of personal possessions. The home beautifully
illustrates the lifestyle of Taos artists in the first half of the
twentieth century.
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