Taos Art Museum facts for kids
The Taos Art Museum is a cool art museum in Taos, New Mexico. It's located inside the amazing Nicolai Fechin House. This house used to be the home of a famous Russian artist named Nicolai Fechin, his wife Alexandra, and their daughter Eya. The museum wants to teach people about the awesome art made by artists from Taos. They also help new artists in the area grow. Many artworks by the Taos Society of Artists are in museums far away. So, the Taos Art Museum works hard to "Bring Taos art back to Taos!"
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What You Can See: The Art Collection
The museum has a fantastic collection of art. It includes the Nicolai Fechin House and his art studio. These buildings are like works of art themselves! Fechin combined different styles in his designs, including Russian, Native American, Spanish, and Art Deco.
Artists from the Taos Society
The museum's main collection features art by Nicolai Fechin and artists from the famous Taos Society of Artists. Almost all members of this group have their art here. Some of these artists include:
- Joseph Henry Sharp
- Bert Geer Phillips
- Oscar E. Berninghaus
- Ernest L. Blumenschein
- Walter Ufer
- E. Irving Couse
- W. Herbert Dunton
- Joseph Fleck
- Ernest Martin Hennings
- William Victor Higgins
- Catherine Critcher
- Gustave Baumann
- Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt
- Julius Rolshoven
Other Important Taos Artists
The Taos art scene stayed lively thanks to artists like Leon Gaspard, Joseph Imhoff, Gene Kloss, Ila Mae McAfee, and Dorothy Brett. Later, in the 1940s, a group called the Taos Moderns kept the art spirit alive. These artists were influenced by big changes in the world, like the Great Depression and new art ideas called Modernism. Some of them were:
- Andrew Dasburg
- Louis Leon Ribak
- Beatrice Mandelman
- Emil Bisttram
- Howard Cook
- Cliff Harmon
- Ward Lockwood
After World War II, Taos became a special place for American art. It mixed ideas from American and European Modernism. The bright light, amazing landscapes, and different cultures of the area inspired many artists. These include Rod Goebel, Walt Gonske, Jackson Hensley, Charles Stewart, Julian Robles, and R.C. Gorman.
History of the Museum
The Taos Art Museum first opened its doors in 1994. It started with the art collection of Edwin and Novella Lineberry. They wanted to honor Edwin's first wife, who was an artist named Duane Van Vechten.
In 2003, the museum officially moved to its current home, the Nicolai Fechin House. This beautiful house was built between 1927 and 1933. When the museum moved, it also got its new name: Taos Art Museum at Fechin House.
About the Fechin House
The house of Russian-American artist Nicolai Fechin is very special. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 31, 1979. It's also a New Mexico Registered Cultural Property, which means it's an important historical site in the state.
Eya Fechin, Nicolai's daughter, opened the house to the public as a museum in 1979. She lived there until she passed away in November 2002. After Eya's passing, the museum's board took over the Fechin property. They added new security and lighting systems. They also treated the windows to protect the art from harmful sunlight and made the inside walls and floors look new again.
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