Виктор Уильям Хиггинс (1874-1960)
Виктор Уильям Хиггинс - представитель "второго поколения" Общества художников Таоса (the Taos Society of Artists) Про само сообщество прочитать можно здесь и здесь на английском.
Иформации о художнике на русском я не нашла, к сожалению. Есть только на английском, а так как переводчик из меня плохой, но поделиться очень хочеться, выкладываю краткое био на языке оригинала))
William Victor Higgins (1874-1960), arrived in Taos in 1914, when both were commissioned by Carter Harrison to paint scenes of New Mexico. The generous Harrison's patronage had also made possible Higgins' studies in Europe from 1910 until 1914, during which he met Ufer and another young artist who would come to Taos, Martin Hennings. A formal sort who painted in a three-piece suit, Higgins was quite different type from the rough, blunt Ufer, but shared his distaste for the academic style.
Raised on an Indiana farm, Higgins was befriended by an itinerant signmaker who gave him his first paints. At the tender age of 15, he fled Shelbyville against his parents' wishes and enrolled at the Chicago Art Institute. He next studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and then was sent by his indulgent patron to Europe.
At the Academie de la Grande Chaumier in Paris and the Academy in Munich, Higgins mastered the sophisticated European techniques so evident in his work, regardless of its traditional subject matter. He subsequently taught at CAI, and Chicago remained his primary market even after his move to New Mexico. Though he joined the STA in 1915 and, with Ufer, was elected to full membership in 1917, Higgins seldom exhibited his work with other Taos artists, preferring one-man shows for his nontraditional creations.
Known principally as a landscape artist, Higgins retreated from figural painting after a major media brou-ha-ha over his portrait of an Indian on horseback, Fiesta Day, which won both the First Logan Prize ($500) at The Art Institute of Chicago and the First Altman Prize ($1,000) at New York's National Academy of Design in 1918. Hostile rants by dissenting critics took all the fun out of it.
Over the next three decades, he explored forms of Impressionism, Cubism and Modernism in still life paintings and scenic views, imbuing his physical surroundings with metaphysical content in such works as My Gateway, (top of page) and these examples, titled Mountain Forms #II and Winter Funeral.
Winter Funeral by Victor HigginsFor the latter, somber but spectacular, the catalyst was the death of Higgins' mother, though its imagery was probably supplied by a funeral he attended for a Taos boy killed in an automobile accident.
Described by his biographer as the "culmination of all of Higgins's training, exploration and experimentation in oil and watercolor," Winter Funeral features abstracted patterns, dark, bold colors and dry brushwork. Awarded the 1932 William M. R. French Memorial Gold Medal by the Art Institute of Chicago Alumni Association, it also received the $1,000 First Altman Prize in the National Academy of Design's 107th Annual Exhibition.
When the picture appeared in the New York Times, an art critic credited the NAD jury with "picking well" and termed it "easily one of the best achievements of the academy show; powerful and original in treatment, honestly dramatic and full of intensely felt harmonies." Despite wild acclaim, Higgins proved unable to sell the piece. He eventually strolled into the Harwood Museum in Taos and made a casual gift of it as "a painting for over the fireplace."
That hard-luck story notwithstanding, Higgins earned a very comfortable living from his art. His canvasses have recently sold for as much as $315,000. источник
"The Widower" 1923
"Spring Rains"
"Mountain forms II"
"Aspens up Twinning Way"
"Fiesta Day" 1918
"My Gateway"
"Pueblo"
"Rabbit trackers" 1918
"Winter Funeral"
"New Mexico Skies" 1943
Иформации о художнике на русском я не нашла, к сожалению. Есть только на английском, а так как переводчик из меня плохой, но поделиться очень хочеться, выкладываю краткое био на языке оригинала))
William Victor Higgins (1874-1960), arrived in Taos in 1914, when both were commissioned by Carter Harrison to paint scenes of New Mexico. The generous Harrison's patronage had also made possible Higgins' studies in Europe from 1910 until 1914, during which he met Ufer and another young artist who would come to Taos, Martin Hennings. A formal sort who painted in a three-piece suit, Higgins was quite different type from the rough, blunt Ufer, but shared his distaste for the academic style.
Raised on an Indiana farm, Higgins was befriended by an itinerant signmaker who gave him his first paints. At the tender age of 15, he fled Shelbyville against his parents' wishes and enrolled at the Chicago Art Institute. He next studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and then was sent by his indulgent patron to Europe.
At the Academie de la Grande Chaumier in Paris and the Academy in Munich, Higgins mastered the sophisticated European techniques so evident in his work, regardless of its traditional subject matter. He subsequently taught at CAI, and Chicago remained his primary market even after his move to New Mexico. Though he joined the STA in 1915 and, with Ufer, was elected to full membership in 1917, Higgins seldom exhibited his work with other Taos artists, preferring one-man shows for his nontraditional creations.
Known principally as a landscape artist, Higgins retreated from figural painting after a major media brou-ha-ha over his portrait of an Indian on horseback, Fiesta Day, which won both the First Logan Prize ($500) at The Art Institute of Chicago and the First Altman Prize ($1,000) at New York's National Academy of Design in 1918. Hostile rants by dissenting critics took all the fun out of it.
Over the next three decades, he explored forms of Impressionism, Cubism and Modernism in still life paintings and scenic views, imbuing his physical surroundings with metaphysical content in such works as My Gateway, (top of page) and these examples, titled Mountain Forms #II and Winter Funeral.
Winter Funeral by Victor HigginsFor the latter, somber but spectacular, the catalyst was the death of Higgins' mother, though its imagery was probably supplied by a funeral he attended for a Taos boy killed in an automobile accident.
Described by his biographer as the "culmination of all of Higgins's training, exploration and experimentation in oil and watercolor," Winter Funeral features abstracted patterns, dark, bold colors and dry brushwork. Awarded the 1932 William M. R. French Memorial Gold Medal by the Art Institute of Chicago Alumni Association, it also received the $1,000 First Altman Prize in the National Academy of Design's 107th Annual Exhibition.
When the picture appeared in the New York Times, an art critic credited the NAD jury with "picking well" and termed it "easily one of the best achievements of the academy show; powerful and original in treatment, honestly dramatic and full of intensely felt harmonies." Despite wild acclaim, Higgins proved unable to sell the piece. He eventually strolled into the Harwood Museum in Taos and made a casual gift of it as "a painting for over the fireplace."
That hard-luck story notwithstanding, Higgins earned a very comfortable living from his art. His canvasses have recently sold for as much as $315,000. источник
"The Widower" 1923
"Spring Rains"
"Mountain forms II"
"Aspens up Twinning Way"
"Fiesta Day" 1918
"My Gateway"
"Pueblo"
"Rabbit trackers" 1918
"Winter Funeral"
"New Mexico Skies" 1943
