Harwood Museum of Art

[1] The Harwood Museum has a collection of a broad range of Hispanic works, including paintings, tinware and woodworking reflecting craftsmanship going back to the beginning of Spanish colonization of New Mexico.

The Harwood has the largest publicly owned collection of secular works by Patrociño Barela (1900-1964), an acclaimed leader for contemporary santeros.

[2] During the 1920s and 1930s there was Spanish Colonial revival reflected in many forms of art, including furniture, tinware, architecture and colcha embroidery.

Without knowing the history of the local art colony, artists came from New York City and San Francisco, centers for abstract painting that emerged after World War II.

Some of the emerging artists from this period include: Thomas Benrimo, Agnes Martin, Clay Spohn, and Edward Corbett.

People who had been guiding forces of the art colony died, such as Mabel Dodge Luhan, Andrew Dasburg, Emil Bisttram, and Dorothy Brett.

There was also an influx of a new generation of artists when Dennis Hopper came to Taos to complete final rough cut of "Easy Rider".

He stayed and bought the Mabel Dodge Luhan property and, like her, encouraged artists, musicians and celebrities to visit him in Taos.

The Museum collection includes works of early artists, such as Howard Cook, Joseph Imhoff, Gene Kloss, Nicolai Fechin, and Walter Ufer.

[9] Burt and Elizabeth Harwood left their home in France in 1916 to move to Taos where they purchased a cluster of small adobe buildings on Ledoux Street.

Over the next three years Burt Harwood directed the remodeling of the buildings, in keeping with local construction techniques, and named the complex "El Pueblito".

It was expanded in 1937 as designed by John Gaw Meem to include an auditorium, stage, exhibition space, and a library facility.

The gift of the paintings, and the design of the octagonal space to the artist's specifications by Albuquerque architectural firm, Kells & Craig, were negotiated and overseen by museum director Robert M. Ellis, a close friend of Martin's.