"Mountains of Taos", 11.5" x 18", Watercolor  -  SOLD

Cady Wells (1904 – 1954)


Not until his late twenties did Wells decide to become an artist.  After a comfortable youth in Southbridge, Massachusetts, he studied and traveled widely, pursuing interests in music and the visual arts.  In 1932 he arrived in New Mexico and almost immediately fell under the influence of Andrew Dasburg, who became his mentor for the next several years. 

Portraying the southwestern landscape in watercolor, Wells moved through various modernist idioms.  His early work incorporated gestural, calligraphic lines suggestive of Chinese ideograms.  Later he investigated the structure of natural forms and the pattern like appearance of the landscape. 

Influenced by Dasburg, Raymond Jonson, and Georgia O’Keeffe, Wells developed a personal, semi-abstract style that brought considerable praise from his peers.  He also deserves recognition for donating his extensive collection of Santos to the Museum of New Mexico.

Reference:  Udall. Modernist Painting in New Mexico




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