Gustave Baumann

'Taos Placita' — American Southwest Regionalist Masterwork

1947

Ira Moskowitz, 'Navajo Trading Post', lithograph, 1946, edition 30, Czestochowski 161. Signed and dated in the stone, lower left. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 1/2 to 3 1/8 inches). Pale mat line, otherwise in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 11 11/16 x 15 1/2 inches (297 x 395 mm); sheet size 16 5/16 x 191/8 inches (414 x 486 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Ira Moskowitz was born in Galicia, Poland, in 1912, emigrating with his family to New York in 1927. He enrolled at the Art Student's League and studied there from 1928-31. In 1935, Moskowitz traveled to Paris and then lived until 1937 in what is now Israel. He returned to the United States in 1938 to marry artist Anna Barry in New York. The couple soon visited Taos and Santa Fe in New Mexico, returning for extended periods until 1944, when they moved there permanently, staying until 1949. During this especially productive New Mexico period, Moskowitz received a Guggenheim fellowship. His work was inspired by the New Mexico landscape and the state’s three cultures (American Southwest, Native American, and Mexican). He focused on Pueblo and Navajo life, producing an extensive oeuvre of authentic American Indian imagery. He and Anna also visited and sketched across the border in Old Mexico. While in the Southwest, Moskowitz flourished as a printmaker while continuing to produce oils and watercolors. Over 100 of Moskowitz’s works depicting Native American ceremonies were used to illustrate the book American Indian Ceremonial Dances by John Collier, Crown Publishers, New York, 1972. After leaving the Southwest, printmaking remained an essential medium for the artist while his focus changed to subject matter celebrating Judaic religious life and customs. These works were well received early on, and Moskowitz was content to stay with them the rest of his life. From 1963 until 1966, Moskowitz lived in Paris, returning to New York City in 1967, where he made his permanent home until he died in 2001. Shortly before his death, Zaplin-Lampert Gallery of Santa Fe staged an exhibition of the artist's works, December 2000 - January 2001. Other one-person shows included the 8th Street Playhouse, New York, 1934; Houston Museum, 1941; and the San Antonio Museum, 1941. The artist’s work was included in exhibitions at the Art Students League, Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Print Club, College Art Association (promotes excellence in scholarship and teaching), and the International Exhibition of Graphic Arts (shown at MOMA, 1955). Moskowitz’s lithographs of American Indian...

Howard Cook, 'Taxco Market', aquatint and etching, 1932-33, edition 30, Duffy 181. Signed and titled in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper; the full shee...

Jesse F. Reed, 'Church at Chichicastenango', color etching and aquatint, 1963. Signed and titled in pencil. Signed and dated in the plate, lower right. A fine, richly-inked impression, with fresh colors, on cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (1 3/8 to 2 1/2 inches), in excellent condition. Chichicastenango, also known as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, is a town in the El Quiché department of Guatemala, located in a mountainous region about 140 km northwest of Guatemala City. Chichicastenango is a K'iche' Maya cultural center, with the great majority of the municipality's population indigenous Mayan K'iche. The church depicted is the 400-year-old church Iglesia de Santo Tomás. Built atop a Pre-Columbian temple platform, the steps which remain venerated today, originally led to a temple of the pre-Hispanic Maya civilization. K'iche' Maya priests still use the church for their rituals, burning incense and candles. Each of the 18 stairs that lead up to the church stands for one month of the Maya calendar year. ABOUT THE ARTIST Jesse Floyd Reed (1920-2011) studied art in New York City at the Grand Central School of Art and the Art Students’ League. He held degrees in History and English and completed special advance studies in Asian, African, and Latin American art, history and culture. At the time of his retirement, he was a Professor of the Arts Emeritus at Davis & Elkins College, a position he held for over forty-nine years. A nationally recognized artist since 1947, Professor Reed’s art has been shown in hundreds of museums, libraries, colleges, and universities, including the Boston Museum, National Museum, The Library of Congress, Brooklyn Museum, and Seattle Museum. In his native West Virginia, he is represented in the permanent collections of the Huntington Museum and the Charleston Museum at Sunrise. The recipient of many national and regional awards, Reed was a member of the Salmagundi Club in NY, the Boston Printmakers, the Print Club of Albany, and was a founding member of the West Virginia Water...

Ira Moskowitz, 'Navajo Reservation Landscape', lithograph, 1945, edition c. 30. Signed and titled in pencil. Signed and dated in the stone, lower left. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper, the full sheet with margins (1 3/8 to 2 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 12 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (324 x 400 mm); sheet size: 15 1/2 x 19 inches (394 x 482 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Ira Moskowitz was born in Galicia, Poland, in 1912, emigrating with his family to New York in 1927. He enrolled at the Art Student's League and studied there from 1928-31. In 1935, Moskowitz traveled to Paris and then lived until 1937 in what is now Israel. He returned to the United States in 1938 to marry artist Anna Barry in New York. The couple soon visited Taos and Santa Fe in New Mexico, returning for extended periods until 1944, when they moved there permanently, staying until 1949. During this especially productive New Mexico period, Moskowitz received a Guggenheim fellowship. His work was inspired by the New Mexico landscape and the state’s three cultures (American Southwest, Native American, and Mexican). He focused on Pueblo and Navajo life, producing an extensive oeuvre of authentic American Indian imagery. He and Anna also visited and sketched across the border in Old Mexico. While in the Southwest, Moskowitz flourished as a printmaker while continuing to produce oils and watercolors. Over 100 of Moskowitz’s works depicting Native American ceremonies were used to illustrate the book American Indian Ceremonial Dances by John Collier, Crown Publishers, New York, 1972. After leaving the Southwest, printmaking remained an essential medium for the artist while his focus changed to subject matter celebrating Judaic religious life and customs. These works were well received early on, and Moskowitz was content to stay with them the rest of his life. From 1963 until 1966, Moskowitz lived in Paris, returning to New York City in 1967, where he made his permanent home until he died in 2001. Shortly before his death, Zaplin-Lampert Gallery of Santa Fe staged an exhibition of the artist's works, December 2000 - January 2001. Other one-person shows included the 8th Street Playhouse, New York, 1934; Houston Museum, 1941; and the San Antonio Museum, 1941. The artist’s work was included in exhibitions at the Art Students League, Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Print Club, College Art Association (promotes excellence in scholarship and teaching), and the International Exhibition of Graphic Arts (shown at MOMA, 1955). Moskowitz’s lithographs of American Indian...

Lorna Patrick, American - Pueblo, Year: 1981, Medium: Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 295, Size: 31 x 42 in. (78.74 x 106.68 cm), Description: Set beneath...

This evocative vintage oil painting from the 1930s–1940s by Denver modernist Paul K. Smith beautifully depicts a classic adobe church in New Mexico, likely insp...

This captivating 1932 oil on board painting, Pueblo Near Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a remarkable example of Eliot Candee Clark’s (1883–1980) masterful landscape work. A celebrated Denv...

Mid-day, Zuni Village, 1897 By. Frank Reed Whiteside (American, 1866-1929) Unframed: 20" x 30" Framed: 28" x 38" Frank Reed Whiteside, born in Philadelphia on 20 August 1867, became a student of Thomas Anshutz at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1888-92). He already began exhibiting there during his student years (1887-98). In 1893, he enrolled in the Académie Julian in Paris where he received instruction from Jean-Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant. After his French academic training, Whiteside taught art in Philadelphia high schools. He took frequent trips to the Southwest between 1890 and 1928 to live with and paint the Zuni Indians. Whiteside depicted ceremonial dances, Zuni buildings, and other genre scenes, usually in blinding afternoon sunlight. He carefully observed the effects of light on vibrant color, using a finely crafted impressionist technique. He was fond of broad areas of color, subtle combinations of hues, and simplified shapes and silhouettes. Whiteside continued to exhibit at the PAFA (1905-15), at the Art Institute of Chicago (1896-1916), at the Carnegie International (1905 and 1907) and at the Corcoran Gallery (1907). He was a member of Philadelphia art societies and beginning in 1909 had a summer studio in Ogunquit, Maine, where he took part in Hamilton Easter Field's discussion groups. Frank's wife, Clara Walker Whiteside, who published Touring New England in 1926, was active in the Ogunquit Art Association. Like Stanford White, Frank Reed Whiteside was the victim of murder, on 19 September 1929, but Whiteside's case remains unsolved. One night, the sixty-three year-old painter answered the doorbell. Two witnesses...