Day 18 – Albuquerque – Albuquerque Museum and more

We opted for a turnaround day trip to Albuquerque today. The weather still wasn’t cooperating. The wind was forecast at 15 miles an hour with gusts up to 35 mph. It’s hard to paint outside when the odds are very good that your entire set-up is going literally, to the wind.

It’s been known to happen before. The day trip in a car and museum sounded like a good plan.

I wanted more inspiration by the local artists in the state’s museums. I am developing quite an interest in the New Mexico artists, particularly the Taos artists. Most of them in the early 1900’s were classically trained and brought their skills and techniques to Taos where they applied them to record the Indian Cultures, the beautiful and unique landscape, and also paint their friends and family members. Many of these wonderful paintings reside today in museums like the one in Albuquerque.

The Albuquerque Museum, formerly known as the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, is a public art and history museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The museum is in the Old Town area and is operated by the City of Albuquerque Department of Arts & Culture. 

Highlights from the art collection include Native American jewelry and ceramics; Hispanic religious and domestic folk arts; masterworks from late 19th and early 20th century Taos and Santa Fe artists such as Ernest Blumenschein, John Sloan, and Georgia O’Keeffe; photographs from the early 20th century to the present, and contemporary reflections on land, landscape, and regional cultures by artists including Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Fritz Scholder, and Luis Tapia. I found the museum worth the trip but would have appreciated more paintings and information about these early 20th century artists. I posted a photo of a painting by Robert Henri 

After a few hours in the museum, we then took a sort walk to the New Mexico Museum of National History. It records the natural history of the land Albuquerque resides on. The exhibits focus on pre-historic animals that roamed the land called Albuquerque. Just minutes away from Albuquerque’s lively Old Town Plaza, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science takes you through New Mexico’s past, from the formation of the universe to the present. This interactive, high-tech museum features an active volcano, Ice Age cave, and dinosaurs galore, including the enormous Tyrannosaurus rex and Seismosaurus.

The museum’s popular exhibition, Dawn of the Dinosaurs, is the only Triassic Hall in North America.  The Planetarium and Lockheed Martin DynaTheater are exciting detours on journeys through the museum, which also includes a cafe and the Natureworks Discovery Store. I enjoyed my visit here but did cut it short as busloads of schoolchildren arrived just after we did.

Of course, all that walking and reading made us hungry for lunch, so we strolled through Old Town Albuquerque and decided on Mexican food at Monica’s El Portal. Old Town was pleasant enough but many of the shops, galleries and restaurants are closed or have moved since Covid.

Day Twenty – New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe

The display of art at the Albuquerque Museum of Art was good enough to spark my interest in seeing more. I hadn’t been to the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. Bbecause they were open on a Monday convinced me to make the effort. I went by myself and was disappointed that it took me over 30 minutes to find a parking spot. Santa Fe is a very popular tourist destination and even Monday afternoon found me scrambling. I finally opted for a parking garage off Sandoval and Water finally left the car.

The museum was not crowded. I had entire rooms to myself.  When the New Mexico Museum of Art opened in 1917 it was the first building in the state dedicated to art. Its galleries, reception areas and St. Francis auditorium were made by the people of New Mexico for the promotion of the state's rich culture to visitors and locals alike. The architects Isaac Hamilton and William Morris Rapp designed the building as an enlarged and modified version of the building they made for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego. The style of the building, called Pueblo Revival, uses modern construction materials made to look like the historic adobe churches found throughout the state's Pueblos. Throughout its century long history, the museum has grown and redefined itself to adapt to changes in art and museum practices.

While the building was lovely, I found it rather amazing that so little information about the history of the building and the art contained within was displayed. I asked one of the front desk attendants and they couldn’t add any information either. Many of the exhibits were temporary containing contemporary New Mexican art which is not my primary focus in art. I felt more of the exhibits could have reflected more of the twentieth century local artists. I was also told I just missed the Ansel Adams exhibit, which closed the day before. That disappointed me because I’m a big fan of his work. 

The first painting image inserted is by Peter Hurd who studied under N.C. Wyeth and resided in New Mexico. It's called Portrait of Gerald Marr, 1952. The second painting image is by Robert Henri who actually lived in New York but obviously spent time in New Mexico. It's called Portrait of Dieguito Roybal and was painted in 1916. The last two images are of some interesting and cooperative subjects that I've painted recently. The church is the The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi which is located near the Plaza Santa Fe. The painting is not one of my better ones as it was 35 degrees out on a very chilly Sunday morning when I painted it. My hand went numb. The truck is an old International with a wooden steering wheel and spokes. Probably built somewhere in the 1920's. It's landed as an art relic at Santa Fe Skies, where I'm staying until next Tuesday, May 31.