Finding New Life In Santa Fe: Sheldon Parsons’ Story

A journey that began with tragedy and illness became a career-changing new chapter for Sheldon Orrin Parsons (1866-1943) when he moved from New York to Santa Fe with his daughter, Sara, in 1913. Spurred by his wife’s death and his own fight with tuberculosis, Parsons headed to the Southwest in search of a healthier climate and a fresh start.

Sheldon Parsons - “Taos Road”, oil on board, 28” x 24”

Born in Rochester and educated alongside other famed artists of his day at the National Academy of Design, like Will Low, Edgar Ward and William Merritt Chase, Parsons was already a successful painter in New York. He was known for his portraits of influential people like President McKinley and Susan B. Anthony as well as pastoral landscapes of the Westchester County countryside. This pilgrimage going West was a step into the unknown, but after settling in the small town, he soon became one of Santa Fe’s earliest resident artists.

Sheldon Parsons, “Landscape In NM”, oil/board, 9” x 12”

Like it does with so many people, the land connected with Parsons emotionally and creatively. When he laid eyes on the beauty of the region, his art was forever changed. In fact, once he fell in love with the landscape of New Mexico, he never painted figures again. 

Sheldon Parsons - “Chamisa Leading to House”, oil on canvas, 35” x 36”

Like many other artists of the time, he displayed his work at the Palace of the Governors and would later become the first director of the newly completed New Mexico Museum of Fine Art. His daughter, Sara, would marry artist Victor Higgins in 1919, which lasted only four years but left a lasting impression on Parsons’ own artistic style. Though he was never considered a modernist, he was drawn to more progressive painters. Parsons passed away in 1943, right around the time abstract expressionism was taking off in New York City.

Sheldon Parsons - “(Untitled) Well In Front of Adobes”, oil on board, 24” x 36”

The pieces shown here and a number of other original Sheldon Parsons paintings are available at Nedra Matteucci Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For questions about the art or the gallery, please contact inquiry@matteucci.com

Source: AskArt.com