E. L. Blumenschein
Ernest Leonard Blumenschein (1874-1960)
Taos Society of Artists founder Ernest Blumenschein was a colorful and controversial figure whose character was marked by fierce determination. A supporter of Post-Impressionism, Blumenschein’s own style is marked by the use of deep, rich colors and a strict sense of spatial geometry and rhythm. Possibly the most complex and least understood member of the Taos Society, Blumenschein’s southwestern pictures were born of the artist’s interest in formal integrity and harmony rather than a desire to accurately portray pueblo culture.
Similar to several of his later Taos colleagues, Blumenschein was of modest Midwesterner beginnings. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA and earned a scholarship to study at the Cincinnati College of Music after graduating from high school. He took an illustration class at the Cincinnati Art Academy and decided to pursue a career in the visual arts. In 1892, he moved to New York to study at the Art Students League. He soon became convinced that European study was necessary to establish himself as a professional artist and enrolled at the Academie Julian in Paris, where he became acquainted with Bert Phillips and J.H. Sharp. Sharp regaled the younger artists with tales of his 1893 visit to Taos.
Upon his return from Paris in 1896, Blumenschein worked as an illustrator in New York, where he shared a studio with Phillips. After and assignment that took him to Arizona and New Mexico, Blumenschein went west with Phillips in 1898. When a broken wagon wheel landed the artists in the nearby town of Taos, Phillips decided he had reached the end of his journey.
Blumenschein stayed in Taos for 3 months returning to his lucrative illustration career in New York and eventually to Paris for further study at the Academie Julian in 1899. During his stay in New York he met Mary Green and married her. She was an established artist whose work was often featured in the annual Salon.
After their return to New York in 1909, the couple worked as an illustration team and Blumenschein taught at the Art Students League. He began to spend his summers in Taos and settled there permanently in 1919.
