Joseph Bakos (1891 – 1977)

Joseph Bakos was born in Buffalo, New York 1891.  He was know at a Santa Fe painter, sculptor, teacher of polish descent, Bakos studied at the Albright Art School in Buffalo, in Toronto, and in Denver with John E. Thompson. He was the first art instructor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. When he moved to Santa Fe in 1921, he built a studio on the Camino del Monte Sol near the others of Los Conco Pintores. Bakos taught at the University of Denver 1931-33 and in the Santa Fe high school beginning 1940. His brightly colored painting style changed with the subject, from openness “conveying the largeness of the land” to “unexpectedly detailed” objects. His wife Theresa was also an artist.

“A sociable, ebullient person, an emotional and dramatic painter,” Bakos was called one of “the five little nuts in five adobe huts.” The Pintores—Bakos, Ellis, Mruk, Nash, and Shuster—in the early 1920s were the serious avant-garde artists in Santa Fe, although they were at first unable to earn a living through art. Bakos also worked as a carpenter and furniture maker. Their leisure hours were dedicated to fun, with frequent parties and homemade beer. By 1926, the Pintores were no longer exhibiting as a group.

Resource: SAMUELS’ Encyclopedia of ARTISTS of THE AMERICAN WEST,
Peggy and Harold Samuels, 1985, Castle Publishing