Don’t forget Henriette, master painter

The Santa Fe New Mexican’s obituary of Peter Rogers (“English painter became part of N.M. tradition,” June 10) left out an important connection. As the obituary relates, Rogers was married to Carol Hurd Rogers, whose father was Peter Hurd. The obituary describes Peter Hurd’s art and mentions that his fatherin-law was Newell Convers Wyeth. What was left out is that his mother-in-law was Henriette Wyeth, an equally accomplished painter, well-known in New Mexico and nationally. She was N.C. Wyeth’s oldest child. (Another of N.C. Wyeth’s children was Andrew Wyeth. With that family, the artistic lines go far and wide.)

In defense of your obituary writer, Peter Hurd’s name was more widely recognized than his wife’s, partly for his commission in 1967 to paint the official portrait of President Lyndon Johnson. When Hurd showed the president the portrait, Johnson said, “Pete, that’s the [expletive] ugliest thing I ever saw.”

Hurd cheerfully took the portrait back and displayed it in museums in Texas and New Mexico. Later, he donated it to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Perhaps the family members interviewed for the obituary did not say anything about Peter Rogers’ mother-in-law, but omitting mention of Henriette Wyeth reminds me of the 1933 story in a Detroit newspaper, reporting on a visit by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, with this unfortunate headline: “Wife of Master Mural Painter Gleefully Dabbles in Works of Art.”

A show at the Roswell Museum and Art Center, opening June 16, is titled Magical & Real: Henriette Wyeth & Peter Hurd, A Retrospective. Ms. Lyle York

Santa Fe