Taos Artists and Their Patrons, 1898-1950 [Hardcover]

Dean A. Porter (Author), Teresa Hayes Ebie (Author), Suzan Campbell (Author), Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art (Corporate Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1999

The northern New Mexico village of Taos, shaped through the centuries by American Indian and Hispanic Catholic cultures, is an unusual setting for a study of art patronage. Yet nowhere did relationships between artists and patrons play a more pivotal role in American artists' survival during the first half of the twentieth century. Why did artists go to Taos? What held them there? How did they attract patrons? What unusual challenges faced artists who lived and worked in Taos, and how did they respond to these challenges?

Taos Artists and Their Patrons examines age-old dilemmas facing artists in the early years of the Taos art colony: how to make art and still manage to pay the bills, and how to attract emotional support that often made the difference between success and failure; and discusses how patrons in many guises,from corporate and governmental programs, to wealthy collectors and loyal family members, offered innovative solutions to these predicaments.

In addition to art colony founders and the academically- trained artists who joined them, the book includes later arrivals, such as modernists Andrew Dasburg, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Dorothy Brett, who followed Mabel Dodge Luhan to Taos. This is an essential reference work for scholars and collectors of New Mexico art.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Published by the Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame Distributed by University of New Mexico Press

About the Author

Dean A. Porter is director of the Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame. Teresa Hayes Ebie is curator of southwestern art at the Snite Museum, and director of the Notre Dame Taos Program. Suzan Campbell is a Santa Fe art historian, author, and curator. Many others contributed to the development of this volume.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Snite Museum of Art; First Edition edition (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826321097
• ISBN-13: 978-0826321091
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 10.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,210,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST OF ALL BOOKS ON THE TAOS SCHOOL OF ART, January 22, 2000

By 

ROBERT E. MCKEE III (Saint Jo, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taos Artists and Their Patrons, 1898-1950 (Hardcover)

Dean Porter and his gifted associates have skillfully authored not only the best book ever written about the "Taos School of Art", but the most interesting and educational. Why is their book different? They departed from the standard biographical information generally available everywhere and continually repeated by other authors in every new book and took the time to bring into focus the collectors and art buyers who made it possible for the artists to make a living at their chosen profession. The many stories, glimpes, and setches of both the artists and collectors make this book most interesting and readable. There are also many new paintings never before shown in other books about this group of artist. There is also a art exhibit that compliments the book. This is a must read and must see for those who love and collect the "Taos School of Art". Like a fine red wine, you wish in your heart you could drink on forever.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taos artists have risen above the label of "regional", July 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Taos Artists and Their Patrons, 1898-1950 (Hardcover)

The occasional case of the mad artist -- gaunt, ragged and living solely in his own creative mind -- has dominated our view of how art is created. In fact, patronage was and is the medium in which most art is created. This beautifully printed book casts a clean scholarly light into this remarkable relationship of artist and patron. While doing so the authors also examine how the demands and desires of daily living and the strains and strengths of personal relationships -- spouses, lovers, friends -- play upon the same chords that the patron touches, for good or ill. All are amply documented by the authors and as with all biography the telling anecdote best reveals the character of the subject. The fact that for decades a fertile art community existed a thousand miles or more from patrons and markets raises the question of whether indeed something special for the art world was going on in Taos. Easily dismissed by many as regional artists in the past, the Taos artists are put in a context by the authors' examination of the skein of relationships stretching to Taos. I would think that the world of art scholarship on that basis alone needs to respond to this well-focused work by examining other colonies, schools and concentrations of artists in the history of our country, for the purpose of finding how those stories of patronage compare. On its face alone the art reproduced in this fascinating book makes the case for the importance of the Taos artists as American artists. But the patronage story raises this question: Why did big city people, living and creating the big story of its time -- industrial, urbanizing America -- choose to support the painters in the desert? It seems to be a paradox. Or is it? We await the next study in depth of artists and their patrons. "Taos Artists and Their Patrons" has set the height of the bar. I hope the authors of this book stay in the game for the next book.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Among the finest books written on American art patronage, October 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Taos Artists and Their Patrons, 1898-1950 (Hardcover)

While the literature on American art history has grown enormously during the last several decades, that devoted to patronage remains very scarce, usually directed toward single supporters such as Luman Reed and Mrs. Jack Gardner. Taos Artists and Their Patrons is probably the finest study to appear devoted to a single school of painting, that which arose in Taos in New Mexico at the end of the nineteenth century. The authors have thoroughly investigated all aspects of patronage--exhibitions, individual advocates, institutional support, and many other forms. At the same time, they have presented what must be the finest study of the work of the artists active in Taos, embellished by a wealth of marvellous images, beautifully reporduced. The book enjoys three major accomplishments: it is a definitive study of the nature of American art patronage; it is a thorough review of one of the most important regional schools of art in this country; and it's a fabulous read!