The Albuquerque Museum has a collection of fine art which included many works that captivated me, in addition to several galleries of artifacts and historical items from the city’s history. There was also a traveling exhibition of works from the Pennsylvania Academy that was truly outstanding, and that deserves its own post.
Here are some of the highlights from the museum’s collection of contemporary and historical paintings and sculpture. The cover photo is “Three Friends” by Russell Cheney, 1929, a portrait of poet Witter Bynner and two visiting friends in Bynner’s home.
“Karl” by Andrew Wyeth, painted the same year as his “Christina’s World” painting. Wyeth considered this is finest portrait.
“Mountain Spirit Dancer” by native American sculptor Allan Houser, whose studio I toured in Santa Fe.
“Music Box” by Henriette Wyeth, son of N.C. and brother of Andrew. Henriette specialized in portraiture and is best known for her official White House portrait of Pat Nixon. She settled in Roswell, N.M.
“The Artist and the Showman, East Coast West Coast, Buffalo Bill and Herman Melville” by Ray Martin Abeyta, 2013. Herman and Bill never met (but we’ve been to both their houses) and I was intrigued by this fantastical pairing.
“Teeter-Totter” by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, 2019. This was one of several that were installed in the Mexico-U.S. border wall in Sunland, N.M. People from both sides of the border could sit and rock on the working seesaw with a counterpart from the other side of the wall. The accompanying video shows scenes from the installation.
“Starky’s Trading Post” (front) by Tim Prythero, 1986
“Starky’s Trading Post” (rear).
“Juarez” by Elaine de Kooning, 1959. de Kooning taught at the University of New Mexico in 1958-59m and this painting was inspired by a visit to Juarez, Mexico, where she experienced a bullfight.
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