Western Paintings and Sculpture including Contemporary Native American Art Session I

Provenance:

The Artist

Henriette Wyeth Hurd, wife of artist, San Patricio, New Mexico

Private Collection, acquired from the above

Peter Hurd studied with N.C. Wyeth and went on to marry Wyeth's daughter Henriette, a very fine painter in her own right. Born in New Mexico, Hurd settled in the town of San Patricio, on what he would eventually call Sentinel Ranch. Hurd’s work as a combat artist for the Air Force and Life magazine during World War II convinced him to make watercolor his principal medium. San Patricio, Una Tarde Noviembre has the tonal looseness and light touch that would become a hallmark of Hurd’s work. Saturated areas alternate with dry brush technique, and Hurd uses the tip of the brush handle to etch furrows into the turned earth. In an early catalogue for an exhibition of Hurd’s New Mexico scenes, Macbeth Gallery director John J. Cunningham wrote, Hurd “has put down the result of his observations in terms that are affectionate, but never sentimental; impressions which are not mere sign posts pointing to that countryside, but invitations to share and enjoy a land unspoiled by the anachronisms of modern wayside architecture.”

-James D. Balestrieri