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According to Patricia Janis Broder, “In 1925, Berninghaus became a permanent resident of Taos. He had lived and painted there part of each year for over twenty-five years and during the last ten years had spent at least six months each year in Taos. Although most of Berninghaus’ St. Louis commissions were historical representations based on research and poetic imagination, the majority of his Taos paintings depict the contemporary world of New Mexico. He was at once romantic and realist, poet and naturalist. He was not interested in ethnology or anthropology, but he was interested in the transformations of form and the variations of color that were the result of the ever-changing light of Taos.”

PROVENANCE:
Collection of Anna Leise and Wally Sargent, Santa Fe, New Mexico, by 1980
Private Collection, California

LITERATURE:
Patricia Janis Broder, Taos: A Painter’s Dream (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), page 83, illustrated

Condition ReportSurface condition is excellent. Original canvas. Stretcher bar mark across top. One two inch vertical hairline crack on left side, in mountain range. One spot of inpainting in upper-left corner, at edge of frame. Thin horizontal line of inpainting in upper-right, at edge of frame. One eighth inch spot of inpainting in upper-right corner. Ten specks of inpainting in center-right, at edge of frame. One and a half inch hairline inpainting in top-center. Five specks of inpainting in lower-left portion of painting. Two inch horizontal line of inpainting near head of rear Indian. Half inch diameter spot of inpainting above center Indian’s head.

Important Notice: Statements of condition are provided as a service to potential bidders; such statements are educated opinions and should not be regarded as facts. The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction has no responsibility for any errors or omissions.