Blumenschein Home on Ledoux

The first full day of our trip, we headed to Ledoux Street. 203 Fine Art is at the apex. We have stayed at their Casita and always enjoy seeing the work of Shaun Michel and Eric Andrews. they show Early Moderns to Contemporary. Then sadly, we walked by what was R.C. Gorman's Navajo Gallery. something terrible has befallen his Legacy. I don't have the gory details but a look into La Fonda's Lobby says it all.

Then down Ledoux, we stopped to see the Artist in Residence at Buck Dunton's Studio. Next we stepped back 100 years to a magical tour of the Blumenshein home.

In autumn of 1898, a broken wagon wheel resulted in Taos becoming a great American art colony. 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 wagon slipped into a deep rut and broke on the mountainous road just north of Taos.  Ernest Blumenschein made the twenty-mile trek to Taos with the broken wheel. The delay gave them time to become captivated by the landscape and cultures of the Taos Valley.  Blumenschein and Phillips spread the word about the beauty of Taos and urged other artists to come and see for themselves.  Many artists came and saw; some of them came and stayed.

Bert Phillips remained in Taos from that time forward.  Blumenschein returned to Taos often over the next two decades for short periods of sketching and painting when he was not studying and working in Paris. In Paris, he met and fell in love with Mary Shepherd Greene.  Mary had lived in France since 1886 where she had become a recognized artist, winning medals in the famous Paris Salon d'Automne in 1900 and 1902.

Blumenscheinreturned to  Taos every summer until 1919, when he and his wife, Mary Greene Blumenschein, purchased four rooms from a fellow member of the Taos Society of Artists, W. Herbert “Buck” Dunton.  Between 1919 and 1931, the Blumenscheins acquired several of the adjoining rooms and remodeled and adapted the home to its present layout. 

We totally enjoyed time in every room. Mary’s work was enchanting and photos of all the Society of Six and their families are so interesting. We noticed all week how resourceful the women were to raise families and make homes in these dirt floor, no runnung water, rough homes. Blumenshein was so competitive as an artist that he asked Mary to stop painting. She did for awhile and then resumed. There is a charming photo of Helen drawing while her mother painted. There are photos of all the families many whose descendants live in Taos today.

The home is furnished with the Blumenscheins’ original belongings and paintings. I loved standing in his studio as it had been. Some of the paintings by other members of the Taos Society of Artists and later artists were donated to the museum by members of the community as a tribute to the early years of the art colony. In 1962, Helen Greene Blumenschein gave the family’s home and furnishings as a gift to the community of Taos. The museum celebrates the lives and art of Ernest L. Blumenschein, Mary Shepherd Greene Blumenschein and their daughter Helen.  It also celebrates the formation of the Taos Society of Artists and Taos.

Read more and see photos at Two Graces Gallery blogspot. Robert Cafazzo is a terrific artist and historian in Taos now. He and his wife, Holly Seivers, are essential and generous community members. Visit Two Graces in Ranchos Plaza at the beginning of your trip to get good guidance about what's happening. We ended our trip there and walked away with our arms loaded with books.