Art in Taos, New Mexico

When visiting Taos, you are surrounded by culture, art & beauty. Today, Taos has over 70 art galleries & more than 15 museums. In a town of less than 7,000 people, that is an amazing amount of art. The collection I am highlighting here may surprise you.

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The Taos area has grown to become a renowned international art market and artists’ community. It is estimated there are more artists, per capita, in the Taos area than in any other city in the world, including Paris, France.​

https://www.taosartmuseum.org/taos-society-of-artists.html

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The Hidden Art of D.H. Lawrence

Writer D.H. Lawrence is best known for his books Sons & Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterly’s Lover. What many don’t know is that he had a lifelong interest in painting.

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His paintings were exhibited at the Warren Gallery in London’s Mayfair in 1929. The exhibition was extremely controversial. After a complaint, the police seized thirteen of the twenty-five paintings on display.

Despite declarations of support from many writers, artists and Members of Parliament, Lawrence was able to recover his paintings only by agreeing never to exhibit them in England again.

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The Hotel La Fonda de Taos has a group of nine of the banned paintings by author D.H. Lawrence. If you stop at the hotel’s front desk & pay $5.00, they will take you to their conference room where the art is kept behind a curtained wall. While viewing the collection, you will hear a pre-recorded tour describing how the art ended up in Taos.

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A sign outside the hotel states:

“This is the only showing of the D.H. Lawrence controversial paintings since his exhibition was permanently banned by Scotland Yard when his show opened in the Warren Gallery in London in 1929.”

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