Taos Society of Artists Biography

The Taos Society of Artists was founded in 1915 in Taos, New Mexico, by six painters attracted to the landscape and cultures of the American Southwest. The society arranged travelling exhibitions that brought its members’ work to audiences across the United States.

The original six artists were joined by six further members before the society dissolved in 1927. Their paintings frequently portrayed the mountains and settlements of northern New Mexico, as well as Pueblo and Hispanic communities. Today these works are also studied in the context of how visiting artists represented Indigenous people and the region’s cultural traditions. All twelve historical members are listed below.

Artists and participants

Founding members (1915)

• Ernest L. Blumenschein (1874–1960)
• Bert Geer Phillips (1868–1956)
• Eanger Irving Couse (1866–1936)
• Joseph Henry Sharp (1859–1953)
• Oscar E. Berninghaus (1874–1952)
• W. Herbert Dunton (1878–1936)

Later members

• Catharine Critcher (1868–1964)
• E. Martin Hennings (1886–1956)
• Julius Rolshoven (1858–1930)
• Kenneth Adams (1897–1966)
• Victor Higgins (1884–1949)
• Walter Ufer (1876–1936)