User:Hdgknsn/sandbox
Life in Taos
[edit]Aspiring to create sketches in color of the Indians and their surroundings, Grant and Nebraska State Historian, Martha Turner arrived in Taos for a vacation in June of 1920. By August Turner had returned to Nebraska while Grant resigned from her position at the University of Nebraska and moved to Taos.[1]
In 1921, Grant bought an adobe house at La Loma in Taos, where she added a studio that same year. At La Loma she was neighbors with Oscar E. Berninghaus and W. Herbert Dunton, two of the founding members of the Taos Society of Artists.[2]
Taos and the art colony
[edit]Early on, Grant was active in community affairs in Taos, including advocating for the art colony and the Pueblo Indians. When Grant arrives at Taos in 1920, the newspapers were reporting on the likely passage of the 19th amendment, which would be a win for the woman's suffrage movement, something Grant was in favor of. Indeed the amendment passes in the last days of August. In 2023, a large painting dated 1920, thought to be her first from Taos and relating to this subject was discovered in Taunton, MA.[3]
In 1922 Blanche Grant took a job as editor of the local Taos newspaper. It is around this time that Bert G. Phillips suggests that she should write the story of the various artists that followed him and what brought them to Taos. It was this suggestion along with her love of history that sparked her writings on the history of Taos.[4][5]
In 1925, she published three Taos related books titled: "One hundred Years Ago in Old Taos", "Taos Today", and "Taos Indians". In her book "One Hundred Years Ago in Old Taos". The latter includes illustrations of five paintings by Taos Society artists including Joseph Henry Sharp, Eanger Irving Couse and Bert Geer Phillips. Here she also announces an upcoming book to be titled "Taos and its Artists". While it was not published at the time, her 1934 title "When Old Trails Were New" included a chapter called "The Taos Art Colony" on Taos and its artists.[6]
"Taos Today" ends with a guide to Taos and sections on "How to get to Taos", "What there is to see", "Where to go" and "What to do", and includes a calendar with dates of various fiestas, dances and other celebrations of the Puebloan people. In addition, the book lists local artists studios for tourists to visit by appointment. The list includes:
| * Victor Higgins — Desert Edge | * Catharine Carter Critcher — Pueblo Road |
| * Ernest L. Blumenschein — Simpson Street | * E. Martin Hennings — Pueblo Road |
| * Walter Ufer — Beaubien Lane | * Bert Geer Phillips — Pueblo Road |
| Leon Gaspard — La Lomita | * W. Herbert Dunton — La Loma |
| * Joseph Henry Sharp — Carson Road | * Oscar E. Berninghaus — La Loma |
| * Eanger Irving Couse — Carson Road | Blanche Chloe Grant — La Loma |
| Ralph Meyers — Mission Shop |
| * Member of the Taos Society of Artists |
Community Activism
[edit]In the early 1930's a series of fires almost destroyed the Taos Plaza including Emil Bisttram's "Heptagon Gallery", the first art gallery in Taos. In response Grant championed for the creation of a volunteer fire department. Up to this time fires were being quelled by towns people using a bucket brigade. Eventually a crew of volunteers was assembled. Following this success, the need became apparent for space and equipment. Grant enlisted some of her friends in the art community to donate a painting to help raise money for the cause. Later, when the fire department needed running water, she was again involved in getting Taos incorporated, which helped to qualify it for funding from the US government and finally get running water to Taos. Grant was given a lifetime honorary title as President of the Taos Volunteer Fire Department. A title which she held until her death in 1948.[7][8]
Gallery at the Fire Department
[edit]Today there is an art gallery at the Taos Fire Department where over 250 paintings hang. They were all donated by Taos artists over the years, which has become a long-standing tradition. Recognising the significance of this unusual collection, the Taos Volunteer Fire Department has never sold any of the paintings, and the collection has grown over the years. This gallery and the tradition of donating paintings can trace its roots directly back to the 1930's and the efforts of Blanche Grant.[7][8]
- ^ "Lincoln Nebraska State Journal". No. 6 June 1920. Lincoln Nebraska State Journal. 6 June 1920. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- ^ "New Mexico State Record". New Mexico State Record: 8. 29 April 1921.
- ^ "Blanche Grant American 1874–1948". ha.com. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ "Lincoln Journal Star". Lincoln Journal Star: 12. 13 April 1922. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ "Blanche C. Grant (artist - writer)". The Santa Fe New Mexican. 26 June 1940. p. 26. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
autowas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b "An important Collection in the Safest of Hands". taosnews.com. Taos News. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ a b "Best Kept Secret". taosnews.com. October 2, 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2024.