Historic New Mexico prints

A  historic set of graphic media produced by artists in  – and inspired by – New Mexico, spanning the period from the late 19th through the mid 20th centuries. 

The long tradition of print making in New Mexico can be traced back to the work of Peter Moran, younger brother of the acclaimed landscapist Thomas Moran. Beginning in 1880, Peter Moran began producing paintings, drawings and prints based upon his visits to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos and the Rio Grande pueblos. The wealth of material he produced establishes him as the first artist to produce a substantial body of work depicting New Mexican subjects. 

Once the success and renown of the Taos Society of Artists put northern New Mexico on the art world map, the region began to attract an array of artists from across the country and around the world. Many of them were painters, but artists who worked in the print medium made the trek as well. A significant number of these prints were produced from the mid-1920s through the ‘40s, when widespread economic hardship made it difficult for artists to sell their work. The print medium allowed for an artist to produce multiple images quickly and inexpensively and to sell them at affordable prices.

These prints encompass a variety of techniques ranging from etching and lithography to woodblock, linocut, aquatint, seriography and monotype. The collection is stylistically diverse with examples of academic realism, regionalism, modernism and cubist-inspired abstraction.

The collection includes pieces by artists who will be familiar to many, but the primary focus is on the work of lesser-known printmakers. Some were active in New Mexico for decades, while others visited the state for a few weeks or less. 

Some of these artists are largely lost to history: little is known about printmakers such as B. Pat Pattison of Taos and Albert H. Marvin, Jr., whose lithograph ‘Junk Dealer, Taos’ eschews more commonly depicted landmarks for a charming backstreet scene of everyday life.