Taos Inspirations
Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe presents a new exhibition on New Mexico painter Ralph Meyers.
Opening July 27 at Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is Out of the Shadows: Ralph
Meyers and the Taos Founders, a new exhibition focusing on the “charming, colorful work” of Ralph Meyers.
Meyers, who had prominent painter friends in both Santa Fe and Taos, was respected as a merchant, craftsman and trader. Moving to Taos from Denver, Meyers set up a curio shop in 1910 just off the Taos Plaza—the shop, now called El Rincon, is active today and is run by Meyers’ grandson. He was the first white man to establish trade with the Taos Pueblo, which gained him a reputation as an expert on the Pueblo culture. Later, and because of this reputation, he was contacted by the Museum of Natural History in New
York to purchase items for their collection.
The shop also served as a meeting place for locals and new arrivals, as well as artists. In his essay, Perspective: Ralph Meyers (1885-1948), writer
Steve Winston describes the scene, “Night after night,
Meyers and his young wife, Rowena, entertained artists including Joseph Sharp, Walter Ufer, Buck Dunton, Nicolai Fechin and Ansel Adams; writers including Frank Waters and D.H. Lawrence; and arts patrons including Mabel Dodge Luhan and Millicent Rogers.
The conversation was loud and animated, liquor flowed and the raucous merriment often lasted well into the wee hours. Through their interactions, and most importantly, their work, these revelers were defining one of America’s most significant artistic movements. And Ralph Meyers was at the center of it all.”
Meyers painted prolifically between 1910 and 1920, and was influenced by his friends in the Taos Society of Artists. Taos Art Museum curator, Julie Parella Anderies, writes, “Untrained, yet with a connoisseur’s eye, his paintings captured the depth, color and beauty of the culture he so wanted to emulate. Meyers loved to pack into the backcountry with friends such as Lee Hersch, Buck Dunton, Harold Bugbee and Bert Phillips to sketch and paint. He learned from his companions and sought out advice from his mentor Leon Gaspard.”
Meyers even exhibited his work with the TSA in 1915 and again 1917 with the opening of the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe.
The Gerald Peters exhibition will include roughly 30 paintings and will continue through September 29. For more information visit www.gpgallery.com.