Artists of the Canyons and Caminos

Book excerpt: Richly illustrated, Artists of the Canyons and Caminos traces the lives and work of painters who settled in Santa Fe in the early years of the twentieth century. Under their influence, Santa Fe grew from a dusty high-desert town with no paved streets or automobiles to a thriving community. Artists of the Canyons and Caminos features a new foreword by publisher Gibbs M. Smith, and reveals little-known facts and profiles of the personalities who catalyzed this transformation. Above all, it illuminates their common bond: an enduring love for the beauty of the land that called to them in the first place. Some places in the world have a particular atmosphere, a sense of romance, which makes them "good places to paint." Santa Fe, New Mexico-with its clean, sharp air; its startlingly bright colors; its sculptured mesas and mountains-is one of these places. Artists of the Canyons and Caminos includes: A brief chronology of Santa Fe from its inauguration as a state capital housing the oldest public building in the United States (Palace of the Governors); to the first annual exhibition of the Cinco Pintores in 1921, when of the town's population of 7,000, 15 were resident artists; to the opening of the Institute of American Indian Arts in 1962. Descriptions of the broad spectrum of representational styles that flourished there, from romance to super-realism. Major patrons of the arts: railroads, scientists, territorial senators, lawyers, well-to-do retirees. The artists' missions: admiration for the local Indians and their arts, encouragement of young artists of all nationalities, solidarity to prevent Santa Fe from being overly Americanized.