Taos art colony

A well established gathering of Caucasian artists in Taos, New Mexico by 1920, it was the first community in that state to become an art colony. Early participants were Joseph Henry Sharp, Bert Geer Phillips and Ernest Blumenschein. These men were joined by Oscar Berninghaus, Eanger Couse, Buck Dunton, Victor Higgins and Walter Ufer. A larger group banded together with these men to form the Taos Society of Artists, which sponsored exhibitions and worked with the Santa Fe Railroad to sell their paintings in the East. The Colony attracted hundreds of painters, but diminished with World War II, although the area, with exotic scenery and Native American and Hispanic inhabitants, continues to be a popular place for working artists. Sources include Arrell Morgan Gibson, The Santa Fe and Taos Colonies. (LPD)