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Lot Essay
Born in 1897 in Topeka, Kansas, Kenneth M. Adams’ childhood artistic efforts were confined to copying paintings from books. The aspiring painter eventually found his way to programs at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York. While in New York, Adams met Andrew Dasburg, whose time in Europe included exposure to Gertrude and Leo Stein and their circle of artists. At Dasburg’s encouragement, Adams too came to appreciate Cubistic abstraction and the flattening of the picture plane, eventually travelling to Europe himself from 1921-23. As a decidedly 20th century citizen, unlike his older compatriots of the Southwest, Adams’ art was closely aligned with progressive movements he experienced abroad. Indeed, in Taos Indian–Evening, Adams employs a Modernist approach to depict his Realist subject in a bright, yet limited, palette. Using these colors in broad and thickly applied swaths to delineate angular geometric shapes, Adams flattens the picture plane in the same manner as his greatest works from this period, including The Dry Ditch (1964, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana).
In 1924, Adams traveled for the first time to Taos, New Mexico, in search of honest subject matter. He soon fell in love with the unique landscape and light, as well as the quality of life in the region. Carrying a letter of introduction from Dasburg to Taos Society member Walter Ufer, the young painter was quickly brought into the famed art colony and, by 1927, was formally accepted into their ranks, becoming both the youngest and last member of this esteemed movement. Thanks in part to Dasburg’s introduction, Ufer and Adams became particularly close, with the elder helping Adams establish a small studio next to his own. Indeed, like many of the other Modern members of the Taos Society, Adams’ art became defined equally by his subject and a distinct search for authenticity, even when taking his Modern stylistic tendencies one step further. Often choosing to paint his subjects from life, Adams reveled in the area, its clear atmosphere, distinct architecture and unique inhabitants, each a primary focus of Taos Indian–Evening.
In the present work, a vibrant, deep slice of blue establishes the bright tones of a Taos evening, while abstracted, slightly modulated earth tones allude to the distinct architecture of the Taos Pueblo. While consciously choosing to render his subject in a modern manner, Adams progresses beyond the Romantic tropes employed by the earliest Taos founders to depict his Indian subject as he may actually have appeared—in blue jeans and heelless shoes with a simple, traditional white blanket of the Pueblo. As a result, in both style and manner of subject, the artist achieves dignity and strength, imbuing his sitter with confidence, pride and monumentality. With an Ufer-like, Ashcan inspired commitment to Realism, but a distinctly Modernist understanding of art, Taos Indian–Evening is emblematic of the uniquely progressive artist, Kenneth Adams, who helped carry the art of the American West into the modern era.
In 1924, Adams traveled for the first time to Taos, New Mexico, in search of honest subject matter. He soon fell in love with the unique landscape and light, as well as the quality of life in the region. Carrying a letter of introduction from Dasburg to Taos Society member Walter Ufer, the young painter was quickly brought into the famed art colony and, by 1927, was formally accepted into their ranks, becoming both the youngest and last member of this esteemed movement. Thanks in part to Dasburg’s introduction, Ufer and Adams became particularly close, with the elder helping Adams establish a small studio next to his own. Indeed, like many of the other Modern members of the Taos Society, Adams’ art became defined equally by his subject and a distinct search for authenticity, even when taking his Modern stylistic tendencies one step further. Often choosing to paint his subjects from life, Adams reveled in the area, its clear atmosphere, distinct architecture and unique inhabitants, each a primary focus of Taos Indian–Evening.
In the present work, a vibrant, deep slice of blue establishes the bright tones of a Taos evening, while abstracted, slightly modulated earth tones allude to the distinct architecture of the Taos Pueblo. While consciously choosing to render his subject in a modern manner, Adams progresses beyond the Romantic tropes employed by the earliest Taos founders to depict his Indian subject as he may actually have appeared—in blue jeans and heelless shoes with a simple, traditional white blanket of the Pueblo. As a result, in both style and manner of subject, the artist achieves dignity and strength, imbuing his sitter with confidence, pride and monumentality. With an Ufer-like, Ashcan inspired commitment to Realism, but a distinctly Modernist understanding of art, Taos Indian–Evening is emblematic of the uniquely progressive artist, Kenneth Adams, who helped carry the art of the American West into the modern era.