218 Fun at the Pueblo

Category Western Americana
Auction Currency USD
Start Price NA
Estimated at 30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
Fun at the Pueblo
Artist: Phillips, BertDate of Birth: 1868-1956
Medium: Oil on canvas mounted on board
Dimensions: 12 x 9 inches
Signed: Signed lower right

Bert PhillipsÕs first visit to TaosÑin 1898 on a trip with Ernest BlumenscheinÑwas all it took to convince him to make his home there. In fact, once Phillips moved to Taos, he rarely left. Phillips was the most vocal enthusiast for founding an art colony in Taos and became one of the original members of the Taos Society of Artists. And of all the Taos artists, Phillips was perhaps the most unrepentant romantic, seeing the poetry in the people and landscape as twin aspects of an idyll. The subjects of his works, while realistically presented, seem to have been selected for their beauty and ability to convey the romance of the area as he saw it. Fun at the Pueblo records a bit of sociological whimsy, as a mother chases after one boy while another runs offÑbut not without a last, dismissive wave. Meanwhile, the whole pueblo seems to have turned out to watch. Kids are the same everywhere, Phillips seems to say. As are parents. As are the rest of usÑwho will stop everything to gawk at someone elseÕs scene.