Modernism in Taos

Taos #5 - 1948

Recently re-reading David L. Witt's book, Modernists in Taos: From Dasburg to Martin, I was struck by the impact Dad's 1948 summer in Taos had on his subsequent work, and probably also his teaching and writing.  In Taos to attend Louis Ribak's Taos Valley Art School, Dad would have had contact with some of the most forward-looking artists of his day and seen their work first-hand.  Among these artists were Ribak and his wife, Beatrice Mandelman, Andrew Dasburg, John Marin, Tom Benrimo and many more, who made this tiny New Mexico town a vital center for the development of Modern art.  I believe Dad stayed in contact with Benrimo, and certainly with Louis and Bea Mandelman, who later lived part-time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, as did my parents.

Dad must have felt that in Taos he was at the forefront of current painting practice.  Already familiar with John Marin's watercolors and an accomplished watercolorist himself, Dad's loose handling of the medium, and often his breaking up of pictorial space, must have received additional impetus that summer.

These two aspects of his painting, the looseness of paint handling and the Cezannesque/Dasburg/Marin
breaking up of the picture plane, remained constant threads throughout Dad's career.  He taught them to his students in Stamford, and also students of his widely-used high school textbook, Brush and Palette.