In the summer of 1980, Packaw invited me to join him on a tour of New Mexico and Arizona to learn about his love – southwestern art. Just months after his first quadruple bypass surgery (he has had two), the normally conservative guy bought himself a toy. At 16, I didn’t know what to think about an art tour, but being able to drive his new blue/silver Datsun (now Nissan) 280ZX through the mountains sounded great to me. The map below shows the route that we took. I came away from the trip having a much deeper understanding of southwestern art and a deep appreciation of American Indian culture.
- B – Santa Fe, NM
- C – Allan Houser Foundry
- D – Bandelier National Monument
- E – Taos, NM
- F – Taos Pueblo
- G – Santuario de Chimayo
- H – Chimayo, NM
- I – Albuquerque, NM
- J – Acoma Pueblo
- K – Petrified Forest National Park
- L – Springerville, AZ
- M – Morenci Copper Mine
- N – Silver City, NM
- O – Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Mimi and Packaw’s art collection was varied. They liked French impressionism, oriental carvings and a variety of pieces that just “spoke to them”. They concentrated, however, on paintings by the Taos Society of Artists (or “Taos Founders”):
- Joseph H. Sharp
- E. Irving Couse
- Ernest L. Blumenschein
- Bert Phillips
- W. Herbert Dunton
- Oscar Berninghaus
These artists were from various parts of the world, studied in France and were drawn to Taos by the culture, the mix of Hispanic, Anglos and Indians and their boyhood fantasies of the wild west. The focus of this yearning was the Taos Pueblo and its inhabitants, the Tewa Indians, who had inhabited the large pueblo for hundreds of years. The six artists who formed the Taos Society of Artists in 1915 felt that their art could be marketed and sold more easily as a group than individually. Their paintings traveled the country in tours and they gained widespread recognition as a result. Their work paved the way for many southwestern artists including Nicolai Fechin which Packaw particularly liked.
While we were in Sante Fe, Packaw purchased his first and only Blumenschein. I’ve always loved this painting. Initially, it was because I was with him when he bought it. Later, I learned to appreciate its composition – with the subdued colors of the shaded landscape in the background, the brightness of the hay as a dramatic contrast and the vibrant colors of the clothing in the foreground.
Today, this painting is displayed opposite another Blumenschein (donated by the Fleischaker family) at the Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art. You can see that he used a similar compositional style in both paintings.
Packaw donated all of his art to the University of Oklahoma. Half went to the school when Mimi passed away (see Thams Collection) and the remainder will be transferred when Packaw dies. We are so lucky that the collection that he assembled for over 30 years will remain in-tact and accessible to us forever.
August 13, 2009 at 2:17 pm |
love this post!