Ernest Martin Hennings 1886 - 1956

Ernest Martin Hennings was drawn to all aspects of the Taos landscape and committed to capturing the tranquil and majestic life of the Pueblo Indians. The seasonal variations of color and light in the landscape surrounding Taos provided Hennings with endless subject matter. He wrote of his life in Taos: "I have been working in Taos for many years and I think that should prove that I like it here; the country, the mountains with their canyons and streams, the sage beneath the clouded skies, the adobe village with its Spanish people and of course the Taos Pueblo with its Indians: their life – domestic and agricultural – with all the color and romance of their dress and history" (Patricia Janis Border, Taos: A Painter's Dream, New York, 1980, p. 262). The agricultural lifestyle of his Native American models and the mild New Mexican climate allowed Hennings to complete most of his paintings outdoors. He often painted late into the afternoon in order to complete as much of his composition as possible before returning to the studio.

According to Patricia Janis Border, "Hennings' most successful canvases are those in which he interwove the threads of landscape and figure forms. His special talent lay in his ability to integrate human figures and natural forms into a single aesthetic creation... his handling of light distinguishes his canvases from those dominated by the Art Nouveau aesthetic. The brilliant sunlight of Taos, seven thousand feet above sea level, challenges all painters who work there... thus, in their bright color and clarity of form, Hennings's paintings are immediately identifiable as landscapes of New Mexico..." (Taos: A Painter's Dream, pp. 253, 256).