THIRD CHAPTER OF TAOS ART COLONY CELEBRATED AT HARWOOD
Taos, NM - "Jim
Wagner: Trudy's House," "R.C. Gorman: The Early Years," "Fritz
Scholder: The Third Chapter," and "Woody Crumbo: The Third Chapter" open at the Harwood Museum of Art, Saturday,
May 18 and remain on view through Sunday, September 8, 2013.
Although each exhibition has its own personality, all four artists celebrated
are legends and are from a period of time in Taos being referred to by the show's
organizers as Chapter III. Following the Taos Founders and Taos Moderns, Chapter III is characterized by a
great wave of young, relatively unknown artists and smart art dealers representing
these exciting and new
Taos artists. This wave created a powerful aesthetic and commercial vitality
that was new to Taos, and unique to the U.S.
Crumbo, Gorman, Scholder and Wagner are united by an ability to turn
artistic genius into commercial success.
Jim
Wagner: Trudy's House
"Jim Wagner is among the most creative and accomplished artists in America,"
writes Stephen Parks in "Jim Wagner, Taos: an American Artist." "The style of
his painting, drawings, prints and sculpture is fresh, thoroughly original and
an immediately recognizable blend of high art aesthetics, naïve spontaneity and
power. His brightly painted furniture of the 1980s was so unique and captivating
that it became synonymous with contemporary American folk art and launched an
immensely popular style of interior design."
The exhibition's title refers to the show's installation, which will
replicate a home installed with Wagner's wide-ranging, multimedia work.
R.C. Gorman: The Early Years
This exhibition will include work created by Gorman between 1960 and 1970,
documenting the years prior to Gorman's significant and - in some quarters -
controversial commercial success.
R.C. Gorman, legendary Navajo artist who died in 2005, is a central figure of Taos'
Third Chapter. Born in Chinle, Arizona, Gorman's early years focused on nature and
Navajo tradition. He first visited Taos in 1965. By 1968, Gorman opened the
first Native owned gallery in Taos, Navajo Gallery. Gorman quickly became
famous for lyrical paintings of Native American women.
"Gorman's sensitive approach to human form, natural gifts, and outrageous and
extravagant imagination made him one of the most influential and fascinating
artists of his time," says Curator of Collections and Exhibitions Jina
Brenneman. "Out-glitzing the likes of Andy Warhol, Gorman turned brilliance
into a commodity--often at the cost of his original raw and striking talent,
and at the risk of compromising his place in the history of art."
Fritz Scholder: The Third Chapter
Fritz Scholder was one of the most renowned Native American artists of the 20th century. Born in Minnesota, Scholder was one-quarter Luiseño, a California tribe. His influential works were post-modern in sensibility and somewhat pop art in execution. Scholder taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts n the late 1960s, and remains a significant influence on contemporary Native artists.
Woody Crumbo: The Third Chapter
A selection of Woody Crumbo's prolific work, including oil, silkscreen, tempera, pencil and watercolor, will be on display in "Woody Crumbo: The Third Chapter." Crumbo (1912-1989) was a Citizen Potawatomi artist, flautist and dancer. His paintings are featured in many museums including the Smithsonian and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was born in Oklahoma and then moved with his mother to Kansas as a child following the 1916 death of his father. Orphaned in 1919, he spent the rest of his childhood living with various Native American families around Oklahoma. When Crumbo was 17, he began studying art and the Kiowa ceremonial wooden flute at the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School.
While studying art, Crumbo supported himself as a Native American dancer, touring reservations in the early 1930s while disseminating and collecting traditional dances. His art career was cemented when his teacher from the Chilocco Indian School sold a number of his paintings to the San Francisco Museum of Art. Crumbo subsequently joined Bacone College in Muskogee as Director of Art, a position that he held from 1938 to 1941. In 1939, the U.S. Department of the Interior commissioned Crumbo to paint murals on its building in Washington D.C. From 1948 to 1960, Crumbo lived in Taos.
Unlike the Taos Founders and Taos Moderns, Chapter III artists made a living in Taos. With galleries came art publications, frame shops, shippers and art supply stores. Art, for the first time, was a major contributor to the economy of Northern New Mexico. Art dealers Maggie Kress, Tally Richards, RC Gorman, Howard and Mara Taylor, The Shriver Gallery, Return Gallery and Total Art ushered in the Third Chapter of the Taos art movement as they attracted new, old, and corporate art collectors to Taos. Their work, and the four most influential artists from the period, will be celebrated in the exhibitions opening at the Harwood Museum of Art in May.
Opening Reception
Alliance Members' Opening Reception: Friday, May 17, 5-7 p.m.
Director's Circles Preview: Friday, May 17, 4-5 p.m.
Harwood Hours
Monday- Saturday,
10 a.m.- 5 p.m.; Sunday, 12-5 p.m.
Lodging Sponsors The Historic Taos Inn and La Posada de
Taos Bed and Breakfast
Visit www.harwoodmuseum.org for special rates.
General Admission
$10 adults, $8 seniors (65+) and students
Where: The Harwood
Museum of Art , 238 Ledoux Street, Taos, NM
Info: 575-758-9826, www.harwoodmuseum.org
Contact:
Jennifer Marshall
505-231-1776
jennifer@jmarshallplan.com
www.jmarshallplan.com
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