Nedra Matteucci Galleries: An Extraordinary Art World Legacy Nearly Fifty Years in the Making

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Situated in the heart of Santa Fe's art district, Nedra Matteucci Galleries has a storied past and remains one of the oldest continually operating galleries in New Mexico. It was established in 1972 by legendary art dealer Forrest Fenn on a four-acre tract that contained an orchard and farm that supplied fruit and vegetables to Kaune's Market and structures dating as far back as the 1870s. The buildings themselves had connections to the artists of the early Santa Fe and Taos art colonies. One had belonged to an early expert and dealer of the work of Taos Society of Artists, founding member E. Irving Couse (1866-1936). Another had been the studio of  Czech-born painter Josef Svoboda  (1889-1953), who painted in Santa Fe and Taos. The stately guest quarters on the property have hosted numerous celebrities, including Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis, Robert Redford, Val Kilmer, Cybill Shepherd, Michael Douglas, and Victoria Principal. Nedra's nephew and fellow Dexter, New Mexico native, the famed jockey and Triple Crown winner, Mike Smith, is also a frequent guest.

Richard and Nedra Matteucci purchased the gallery in 1988 and quickly made it their own. They expanded the gallery's focus on artists of the early Santa Fe and Taos art colonies and Native American antiques to include more living artists. They opened the gallery's resplendent sculpture garden to the public and, in the process, created one of Santa Fe's most captivating destinations. But the imprint of their personalities and business philosophy is perhaps most clearly reflected in the welcoming and congenial ambiance visitors encounter as soon as they come in. As Nedra states: "It's important to me that my staff is friendly to everyone. We go out of our way to answer questions and educate people. I don't want us to be like some other galleries." Gallery Director, Dustin Belyeu, echoes these same sentiments. "The culture we create in this particular business, in this particular town, in this particular location is so unique. I like everybody that comes in to have a good time and to feel like they belong here. It's just super important."

Another cornerstone of the Matteucci mindset is a focus on philanthropy, as expressed in Richard and Nedra's service on various boards and the hosting of numerous charitable events at the gallery. "Hosting charitable events is something we've always done and will continue to do when Covid lets us again," Richard stated. "It's kind of a way of life. I mean, you've got to help when you can." Nedra notes that she is "not good at saying no," adding that "we are fortunate enough to have this beautiful location. It'd be a shame not to share it." Many organizations have benefited from this generosity. "We've always done the Kidney Foundation, and in the last few years, the Santa Fe Opera event has been one of the largest. We've also helped out-of-state charities and museums," she says. In addition to on-site fundraising events, a weekend stay in the celebrated guest house has been a popular donated item at numerous charitable auctions.

The gallery continues to play a vital role in the region's artistic landscape with an ever-changing inventory of museum-quality works presented in rotating displays and artist-focused exhibitions. The role of gallery staff is to cultivate a meaningful connection between the art and the clients. As Dustin notes, it is a process that requires establishing a rapport based on trust. "I think more than anything, especially in this business, clients want honesty. And they want to be educated. They want to know why a certain work of art is important and why people seek it out to acquire it. People really like to take that in." For Nedra, these interactions are a two-way street that has become part of the fabric of who she is. "It's a passion. You meet so many interesting people and every day you learn something too. It's not just teaching. It's a learning experience all the time." As a collector himself, Richard knows well the personal joy he derives from living with art. "In today's troubled world, there's just something peaceful when you're around a great painting or sculpture. That's what I think I get from it, a lot of peace and comfort."

The last several decades have brought myriad changes to the art world, and Nedra has been in the midst of this evolution. "We've gone through so many changes," she says. "For instance, it used to be that the dealers bought 80% of the paintings at Sotheby's and Christie's auctions. And now, it's our collectors that often do. Our clients call and ask for advice about an auction painting, and we give it to them. We know it'll come back around." While adapting to change has always been central to the gallery's longevity, Covid brought many new challenges. While the gallery continued to have regular in-person interaction with visitors and clients (except during mandated shutdowns), more focus has been given to outreach via email and social media. But, as Dustin notes, maintaining the gallery's core values along with the Matteucci's "commitment to keeping this place moving forward during the shutdowns" has been critical over this past year. "It’s really the same stuff. The reputation Nedra has garnered over the years, making people love this spot because of how we treat them, treating people right, doing charitable things."

As for the future, Dustin believes cultivating new generations of clientele is vital. "The biggest challenge is trying to get younger collectors interested that you can then move forward with and help educate and build collections for." A regularly updated website and proactive engagement via email and social media are central to this effort. According to Nedra, using modern-day tools to generate old-fashioned word-of-mouth pays off. "We're getting new clients all the time, and a lot of it is due to the internet." She also notes the importance of knowing the market and maintaining a fresh and diverse inventory. "Recently, we've been featuring more Spanish Colonial furniture, which is becoming harder to get." As for what the future holds, Richard observes: "In today's world, it's one day at a time. Hopefully, it will just be better and better. I'm an optimist."

Early Artists of Santa Fe and Taos

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A little over a hundred years ago, the mystique of the art colonies of Santa Fe and Taos was increasingly a topic of intrigue in the cultural centers of this country and abroad. Interest was piqued by tales of the area's phenomenal light, awe-inspiring landscapes, and authentic cultures - a reputation reinforced by the activities of groups such as the Taos Society of Artists artist cooperative and Los Cinco Pintores artist collective in Santa Fe. These early artists and cultural visionaries solidified the status of Santa Fe and Taos as international art centers. They laid the foundation for the robust art market and unique museum system that endures today. We hope you enjoy having a look at the following available works by some of the early artists of Santa Fe and Taos.

Gustave Baumann (1881-1971) came to New Mexico in 1918 at the invitation of Walter Ufer and soon decided to settle in Santa Fe where he remained for the rest of his life. The vivid colors of the Southwest fascinated him and immediately appeared in his works such as this woodblock print, Pecos Valley (edition #75/129). The Santa Fe artists' community embraced Baumann, and in 1926 he constructed the first effigy of Zozobra from designs by Will Shuster. He was elected an associate member of the Taos Society of Artists and was a founding member of both the Society of New Mexico Painters and the Santa Fe Art Club. His woodblock prints are forever identified with Santa Fe art of the 20th-century.

Soon after arriving in Santa Fe, Will Shuster (1893-1969) met four painters with whom his name would become linked. In 1921 Shuster, along with Willard Nash, W.E. Mruk, Josef Bakos, and Fremont Ellis, formed the original Santa Fe art colony. With a nod in the direction of New York's The Eight (and decidedly away from Taos's more famous association of artists), the group called themselves The Five, or Los Cinco Pintores in deference to Santa Fe's Spanish heritage. This small etching, titled Witter Bynner's Home in Santa Fe (ca. 1930), is an ode to the famed poet who promulgated the area's cultural status among such artistic and literary luminaries as Ansel Adams, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, Martha Graham, Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, Carl Sandburg, Igor Stravinsky, Carl Van Vechten, and Thornton Wilder.

Fremont Ellis (1897-1985) moved to Santa Fe permanently in 1919 and was the youngest member of Los Cinco Pintores, the 1920s society of Santa Fe artists. Ellis and his colleagues, Jozef Bakos, Walter Mruk, Willard Nash and Will Shuster, created an awareness of contemporary art which was essential to the foundation of the Santa Fe artist colony. Ellis committed to an impressionistic style of painting and had an ongoing love affair with the natural light and beauty of New Mexico as seen in this unforgettable oil on canvas entitled Road to Aspen Ranch.

Painter, printmaker, and children's book illustrator Barbara Latham (1896-1989) was born in Walpole, Massachusetts, in 1896. She was raised in Norwich, Connecticut, and studied at the Norwich Free Academy and then attended Pratt Institute from 1915 to her graduation in 1919. She then studied with Andrew Dasburg at the Art Students League's summer school in Woodstock, New York. She spent the early part of her career in New York, where she worked for the Norcross Publishing Company and did illustrations for Forum magazine and the New York Times Sunday magazine. In 1925, Latham went to Taos for the first time to seek material for illustrations for a greeting card company. She met artist Howard Cook, who was in the process of developing illustrations for Willa Cather's Death Comes to the Archbishop. The couple married in 1927 and in 1933 made their home near Taos where she made paintings like this 18x24-inch oil, entitled Taos Plaza, in a style that was a blend of the colorful approach to landscape developed by the original Taos painters and later followers, and a certain muscularity of form suggestive of Thomas Hart Benton. In 1976, Barbara Latham and Howard Cook settled in Santa Fe.

The renowned Russian-born artist Leon Gaspard (1882-1964) first came to New Mexico on his doctor's advice and with an invitation to visit from Sheldon Parsons. After he failed to take a liking to Santa Fe, it was Parsons who advised him to move to the small primitive village of Taos. One of the first people Gaspard would become acquainted with was the former cowpoke, illustrator, and aspiring painter, W. Herbert "Buck" Dunton. In his book on Gaspard, author Frank Waters writes that “week after week” the two “packed into the wild Sangre de Christo Mountains, fishing in the trout-water streams that emptied into the turbulent Rio Grande, hunting on the high, forested slopes, and leisurely sketching. In return for these outings, Gaspard gave his guide lessons in oil painting.” This untitled 11x14-inch oil of Taos Adobes is among the paintings Gaspard made that first year he arrived in 1919.

Allice Schille (1869-1955) studied with famed American artist and educator William Merritt Chase, and in 1904, while studying at Académie Colarossi, five of her works were displayed at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (the Paris Salon). She was among the earliest American artists to fully embrace European modernism, and she is often credited for bringing the style back to the United States through watercolor. Schille's first visit to Santa Fe and Taos in 1919 was most likely the result of her longtime friendship with Olive Rush, but she was also familiar with the region by virtue of her acquaintance with John Sloan and Randall Davey. In 1920, four of Schille's works were included in an exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art. This diminutive 5x6-inch watercolor, entitled A Summer Storm, New Mexico (ca. 1923), is a vivid example of Schille's fluid use of color to capture the ethereal mood of this place. She would continue to paint in the state at various times through the mid-1930s.

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Ralph Pearson (1883-1958) was an accomplished etcher at a time when the art was just emerging as a popular medium in the United States. He was one of the earliest printmakers in New Mexico, settling in Taos about 1915. He is known for his images of New Mexico Indian pueblos - works such is this 5x9-inch etching from 1920, Taos Pueblo. Pearson was a member of the Chicago Society of Etchers, the New York Society of Etchers, California Art Club, California Society of Etchers and the Brooklyn Society of Etchers. He exhibited widely and won numerous awards including a medal at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. His work can be found today in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Art Institute of Chicago, Mobile Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, and Columbia University.

Gene (Geneva) Kloss (1903-1996) and her husband, poet Phil Kloss, discovered Taos in 1925 during a road trip to the East. That same year she produced this 7x9-inch etching, Old Mesilla. In 1929, the couple settled permanently in New Mexico, and during a career spanning more than six decades, Gene produced more than 600 prints, drypoints, aquatints, etchings, intaglios, and mezzo tints. Although printmaking was her preferred medium, Kloss was also very accomplished in the watercolor medium. From the late 1920s Kloss' subject matter focused on the life of the Pueblo Indian, the landscape of New Mexico, the rites of the Penitente Brotherhood and related indigenous subjects. Kloss believed that her subject matter would direct the technique she used. Her preference for a concealed light source in a scene, for long, sinewy shadows, and her stop-action approach to figure drawing have become signature marks for her collectors.

E. Martin Hennings (1886-1956) enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1901, graduating with honors after five years. He then traveled to Munich to study with leading teachers Franz von Stück and Angelo Junk and remained in Germany until the outbreak of World War I. After returning to Chicago, Hennings attracted the attention of businessman and art patron, Carter Harrison Jr., who sponsored a trip for Hennings to paint in Taos in exchange for works created while he was there (a proposition he had also made to Victor Higgins and Walter Ufer). Hennings came to New Mexico to fulfill his part of the arrangement in 1917, and that same year exhibited three paintings in the inaugural exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. He ultimately became a member of the Taos Society of Artists in 1924. Although Hennings' work was greatly influenced by his traditional academic training, after his arrival in Taos his work began to embrace modernist tendencies as seen in the stylized way he used form, color, and line to interpret the landscape and figures in this 12x14-inch oil, Crossing the Stream.

Sheldon Parsons (1886-1943) first arrived in Santa Fe in 1913, following on the heels of other early artists who were part of the coalescing art colony including Carlos Vierra, Kenneth Chapman, Olive Rush, Gerald Cassidy, and Paul Burlin. Prior to his arrival, Parsons was a New York portrait artist of significant repute, but once in New Mexico, he found the terrain so irresistible that he gave up portraiture and never again returned to figure painting. Parsons quickly became a major force in the burgeoning Santa Fe art scene. When the New Mexico Museum of Fine Art was constructed in 1917, Parsons became its first director. In the ensuing years, he assisted many of the area's early artists while garnering increasing recognition for his own serene, impressionistic landscapes - works like this Untitled Landscape (ca. 1914) painted the year after his arrival.

Henry Balink (1882-1963) was born in Amsterdam, and in 1909 he entered the Royal Academy in Amsterdam on the Queen Wilhelmina Merit Scholarship. He graduated in 1914 and immediately began working as a professional artist in Holland. The onset of World War I prompted Balink to immigrate to America where he would work for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and later paint murals for the Art Institute of Chicago. After viewing a poster in a railroad station, Balink developed a fascination with the American West. As a result of his interest, Balink stayed briefly in Taos, New Mexico, in 1917 and returned on occasion until he permanently settled in Santa Fe in 1924. Balink's extensive training in the Dutch Old Master tradition of painting made him a skilled draftsman and prepared him for the complexity of his chosen central theme, the American Indian. His work is in the permanent collections of the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe. This 20x16-inch oil is titled Koot Kaw - Governor of Walpi.

Oscar E. Berninghaus (1874-1952) began his career in his native St. Louis as a commercial lithographer. In 1899, as a reward for his hard work in taking night classes at Washington University and at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, he was given a month's paid vacation and provided with free passage to the West by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. While visiting Taos, Berninghaus met Bert Phillips, who became a lifelong friend, and was inspired to join the new Taos artist colony. Berninghaus established a seasonal rhythm based on his family's needs, spending winters in St. Louis pursuing a successful career as a commercial artist and summers in Taos painting the Native Americans, their horses, and the landscape. These candid paintings of Taos earned him great respect among the other artists and he became a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists in 1915 and he settled in Taos permanently in 1925. This 12x16-inch oil is titled The Well in the Corral.

““Name me no names for my disease,
With uninforming breath;
I tell you I am none of these,
But homesick unto death —Homesick for hills that I had known,
For brooks that I had crossed,
...Before I met this flesh and bone
And followed and was lost… .And though they break my heart at last,
Yet name no name of ills.
Say only, “Here is where he passed,
Seeking again those hills.””
— Witter Bynner / Grenstone Poems: A Sequence, 1917

Nedra Matteucci Galleries Remembers Forrest Fenn

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Forrest Fenn was a larger-than-life figure who cut a wide swath in the history of art of the American West. His efforts to generate interest in artists of the early Santa Fe & Taos art colonies, and the robust market that ensued, were accomplishments that reverberated through the art world and continue to be felt by the generations of artists and dealers who followed. 

Fenn authored and published many books and catalogs on artists, including works on such notables as Joseph Henry Sharp, Leon Gaspard, Eric Sloane, and Nicolai Fechin. Following its establishment in 1972, Fenn Gallery soon became THE Santa Fe destination for art collectors and enthusiasts, who marveled at the fantastic array of paintings, sculpture, jewelry, furniture, and Native American antiques.

Nedra Matteucci & Forrest Fenn - ca. 1988

Nedra Matteucci & Forrest Fenn - ca. 1988

"Forrest was an amazing man. He was good at coming up with things to promote. He had a good eye and his gallery was always full of all the best of the best." said Nedra. She notes Fenn's reintroduction of Nicolai Fechin (1881-1955) to American collectors as an example of his knack for timing and seizing the moment. "Forrest was the first one to organize an exhibition of Fechin. He acquired them from Russia and got a deal with Armand Hammer to fly them all over here. That opened up that whole field."

Fenn Gallery - front room ca.1977 (note the multiple Nicolai Fechin works on display)

Fenn Gallery - front room ca.1977
(note the multiple Nicolai Fechin works on display)

One aspect that distinguished both the Matteuccis and the Fenns is that each couple approached the art business from the perspective of first being collectors themselves. As Richard says, "We've been to art dealer's houses who had posters on the wall, and we're not like that. We practice what we preach."

Richard and Nedra purchased many works from Forrest, including the Fechin that almost got away. "I saw a Fechin at Forrest's, a landscape of a river. It sold soon after that, but I could never get it out of my mind. When it came on the market again, I couldn't let it go a second time. The big Leon Gaspard we have was from Forrest too."

Nedra explains that Fenn Gallery was always a family effort. "Forrest's wife Peggy was always by his side with everything. She was always right there with him and helped to build the gallery into what it has become. Forrest was the face of the business while Peggy handled all the jobs that kept the operation running. It was a wonderful partnership.”

Forrest & Peggy Fenn - ca. 1977

Forrest & Peggy Fenn - ca. 1977

Nedra remembers what led to her original connection to Forrest and the daunting feeling she had when first seeing the gallery. "Richard told me he'd been offered a painting, and he said, 'why don't you go up and ask Forrest Fenn about it.' I hadn't met him, but I drove up to Santa Fe. I looked at Forrest's place. It was overwhelming, and I turned around and went back to Albuquerque. Richard sent me back up the next day to make the purchase. It was the start of a long and great relationship."

"Forrest and I became friends through the art we mutually admired. As a young dealer I was selling a lot out of my house and out of my car. I was going down to El Paso where there were a lot of collections. I worked with a little museum in town that helped put me in touch with many collectors. I was telling Forrest  'so I'm selling privately.' And he says, 'well, why don't you sell some of my art on the road for me?' I said, 'okay.' That's when my career really got going. I owe Forrest a lot for that early help."

The "Indian Room"   (top: 1978, bottom: 2020)

The "Indian Room" (top: 1978, bottom: 2020)

Nedra went on to work for Forrest for several years at the Fenn Gallery before leveraging that experience in her own venture. "Forrest had me spend that first summer in the library, and I studied 10 years of American paintings and auction catalogs. I had a good memory of price, and it gave me the knowledge to know what the artist is best known for. Like if there were Indians in a painting, it was worth about three times more than a landscape, things like that. That was probably more helpful than going to college."

"Being around Forrest and watching him, I learned a whole lot. He was a great salesman and storyteller. He kept people interested all the time. Forrest had connections all over the art world and everyone you met had a Forrest Fenn story. It's too bad someone didn't keep a running track of them because that would make a book Forrest would've been proud of."

The field behind Fenn Gallery - ca. 1973

The field behind Fenn Gallery - ca. 1973

The land on which Fenn Gallery was located was originally a farm and two small homes along a dusty road following the Acequia Madre. The larger structure was the home of Nicolas Woloshuk, an early expert and dealer of the work of E.I. Couse (1866-1936). The smaller house on the property had been the home of Joseph Cestmir Svoboda (1889-1953), which Fenn and his partner Rex Arrowsmith finally purchased from the artist's daughter Olga.

Behind the buildings was a large tract owned by a man who raised vegetables for Kaune's grocery store. Fenn purchased the field, walled it in, and dug a large fishing pond. Forrest enjoyed his time fishing and feeding his pet alligators, Elvis and Beowulf. This area that was originally the back yard for Fenn's home would eventually become the gallery's famed sculpture garden under the Matteucci's ownership. 

Forrest Fenn's alligators, Elvis and Beowulf - ca. 1984

Forrest Fenn's alligators, Elvis and Beowulf - ca. 1984

Nedra describes the circumstances that led Richard and her to finally acquire the legendary gallery from Forrest in 1988. "It'd been on the market, I think maybe three or four years. Richard comes home and tells me at Thanksgiving, 'we're going to buy Fenn's if I can get the money by January 1st', and I say, 'how could you do that to me?' I think I cried for several days knowing how my life would change given the responsibility I now had to continue the legacy Forrest had created. It wasn't going to be easy but with his tutelage, I knew I could do it."

Pond in 1981 and 2020

Pond in 1981 and 2020

Nedra remembers Forrest as someone who "did many good things that people didn't know about. He was really super generous in a lot of ways. He had a charitable heart, but he didn't brag about it or anything. He helped a lot of us get started. And, he did a lot for a lot of artists too." Richard added that "Forrest pieced together a hell of a thing. He had a life and a half basically. I will remember him as a friend and a good man, and I think that says a lot in today's world, I'm not sure either of them exists anymore."

With gratitude and a humble heart, we bid farewell to Forrest Fenn - whose personal journey reminds us that following your dreams leads to a rich and full life.

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Michael Naranjo at the Eiteljorg Museum

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In February of 2020, sculptor Michael Naranjo (b.1944) hosted a sculpting workshop as well as a groundbreaking touchable art exhibit - “Please Touch! The Sculptures of Michael Naranjo” - as part of a partnership between the Indiana Blind Children's Foundation, the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Eiteljorg Museum. This short film was produced by Michael's daughter Jenna Winter who is working on a feature length film - "Dream Touch Believe" - about the life and sculpture of her father.

Virtual Art Offerings

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While there is no substitute for seeing art in person, we're working to find creative ways to continue sharing beauty with our friends, colleagues, and clients. We've increased our schedule of social media postings highlighting artists and artwork from our gallery inventory – please visit us: Facebook / YouTube Channel / Instagram).

 
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We have also utilized the Artsteps online platform to create virtual tours of the gallery that include almost 200 artworks - please click the images below to access the individual tours.

 

Check out this nine minute video tour of the magnificent sculpture garden at Nedra Matteucci Galleries.

PLEASE NOTE: Once you click the red play button select the HD playback option in the settings under the gear icon in the lower right of the screen for optimal viewing.

For decades visitors to Nedra Matteucci Galleries in Santa Fe have enjoyed the artistic and botanical splendor of our sculpture garden. This secluded gem in ...

We hope to see you in person again soon but in the meantime we remain available via email or phone to field your questions and respond to inquiries about the gallery and our inventory.

505-982-4631 • inquiry@matteucci.com

Honoring Glenna Goodacre, America's Sculptor

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To make art well is to raise life to its highest level and to live it at its best. – Glenna Goodacre, Sculptor

Portrait of Glenna by Matt Suhre Photography

Portrait of Glenna by Matt Suhre Photography

We would like to honor Glenna Goodacre, one of America’s most eminent sculptors. For over 40 years, Glenna sculpted the human figure in bronze, capturing the beauty of humanity in her iconic work. We have lost a great sculptor, a friend, and an incredible person.

The gallery began to show Glenna's work in 1969, when she began her career as a sculptor. Nedra has many joyful memories of Glenna, who was energetic, dedicated, and often smiling. Together, they celebrated numerous milestones in Glenna's successful career and shared her bronze sculpture with collectors around the world.

Glenna was a prolific artist, creating over 500 original bronzes. Her most well-known works include the Sacagawea dollar, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Irish Memorial in Philadelphia. She sculpted a well-known bronze of President Ronald Reagan, many scenes of children playing such as Puddle Jumpers and Tug O’ War, and countless bronzes of Native Americans, such as the powerful work He Is They Are. We are grateful for the many sculptures that comprise her incredible artistic legacy – her great appreciation of human expression, compassion, and joy. We cherish our memories of Glenna, and the happiness she brought to our clients.

Introducing Sculptor Mardie Rees

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We are pleased to welcome award-winning sculptor Mardie Rees, from Gig Harbor, Washington, to the gallery.  Born into a creative family in the Pacific Northwest, Rees spent her childhood sewing, building homes, and drawing. As a teenager, she lived with her family in Ecuador, where she painted murals and determined her path to become an artist.

In her sculpture, Rees explores the imperfection, tenderness, and beauty of human relationships. We sincerely hope you have a chance to see her emotive sculptures in person

From Taos and Beyond: The Art and Odyssey of Hans Paap

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Sí Sí, Señor, oil on canvas, 21” X 21”

Sí Sí, Señor, oil on canvas, 21” X 21”

We are pleased to announce our premier exhibition of Hans Paap (1890-1976), world traveler and gifted painter. This exhibition features his distinctive and far-reaching achievements in portraiture and landscape paintings from the Southwestern United States, Europe, South America, and beyond. We hope you will have a chance to see these exceptional paintings, many of which have never before been offered for sale. This exhibition opens on November 9, and the work will remain on display through December 6, 2019.

Leon Schulman Gaspard (1882 - 1964) Memories of the Faraway

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Siberian Sleighriders, 1921, oil on canvas on board, 47" x 40"

Siberian Sleighriders, 1921, oil on canvas on board, 47" x 40"

As a child, Gaspard traveled throughout the Russian countryside with his father, a rug and fur trader. The vast snowy landscapes and busy marketplaces of these childhood journeys inspired much of his later work, including Siberian Sleighriders (above). Gaspard completed the painting in 1921, a few years after settling permanently in Taos; that same year he traveled through Asia, and perhaps the Mongolian markets or Chinese caravans inspired nostalgic memories of his native Russia. The Siberian scene, a painted remembrance, is impressionistic and dreamlike; tiny sleighs disappearing into towering trees, colors echoing and blending, nature and humanity contrasting and merging.

Smolensk - Winter (The Bridge at Smolensk), 1914, oil on canvas and board, 24 1/8" x 30"

Smolensk - Winter (The Bridge at Smolensk), 1914, oil on canvas and board, 24 1/8" x 30"

Passage de la Oka, 1915, oil on silk on board

Passage de la Oka, 1915, oil on silk on board

As the cold settles in Santa Fe, it is a lovely time to appreciate these Russian travelers – their bright colored clothes in a blanket of snow, the tenacity of humanity, and the beauty of the faraway. Few painters capture these winter scenes as vividly as Gaspard, and we hope you will have a chance to stop by the gallery to see these incredible paintings. Stay warm!

Small & Sacred: Paintings by William Acheff

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Our August summer exhibition, Small & Sacred, featuring still life compositions by William Acheff, almost sold out during opening weekend. The four remaining paintings are featured above.

This show includes over 30 small, lifelike paintings, most of which are no larger than 10 by 12 inches.  “These smaller works are particularly striking,” says Gallery Owner Nedra Matteucci. “The paintings draw us in — creating the sense of a shared secret — offering a story that is both intimate and transformative.” Quiet, meditative, and captivating, Acheff’s work reflects various traditions, spirituality, and life in another time. His career has spanned over 50 years, and he has painted artifacts from the Pueblo Indians since his move to Taos in 1973. 

The exhibition will remain on display through September 14. We hope you will get a chance to enjoy this incredible collection of paintings!