Taos Society of Artists

The Taos Society of Artists was an organization of visual arts founded in Taos, New Mexico in 1915; it disbanded in 1927. The Society was essentially a commercial cooperative, as opposed to a stylistic collective, and its foundation contributed to the development of the tiny Taos art colony into an international art center.

Joseph Henry Sharp, who decided to make painting of Native Americans his life work, visited Taos on a trip through New Mexico in 1893. While there he became enchanted with the people of the Taos Pueblo and the landscape, an interest he shared with Ernest Blumenschein when they were studying art in Paris. Having heard of the degree to which Sharp was interested in painting the western United States, and the Indian pueblo of Taos in particular, Blumenschein came to Taos with fellow artist Bert Phillips in 1898. Planning only to visit Taos, they became enamored by the Taos valley and its people that they decided to stay. This was the beginning of the Taos art colony.

Blumenschein described his first sights of Taos, "The month was September, and the fertile valley a beautiful sight, and inspiration for those who ply the brush for happiness. The primitive people of this out-of-the-way region were harvesting their crops by sunlight and by moonlight. Brown people they were, both Mexicans and Indians, happy people with happy children, in a garden spot protected by mountains." More compelling were the people. Native Americans had lived for centuries in the pueblo just outside the village of Taos. There a peace-loving, democratic society has maintained, and continues to maintain, its history, culture, dress and way of life over centuries.

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