Charles Berninghaus (New Mexico, 1905-1988), dirt road and pines near Taos, oil on canvas panel, signed lower right

sight: 12 x 16 in., frame: 19 x 22.5 in.

Provenance: Property from the collection of now-closed Shuttles Gallery in Dallas, Texas; passed by family inheritance after the gallery's closure in 1961

Charles Berninghaus, son of Taos Society of Artists co-founder Oscar E. Berninghaus, trained at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Art Students League in New York. Settling permanently in Taos in 1927, he painted almost exclusively outdoors, rapidly capturing the changing light of New Mexico landscapes using a single brush wiped clean between colors to emphasize immediacy. Berninghaus's early exhibitions began at age 17 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, and he later showed at major venues including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, and the San Diego Museum, contributing to a more modern, impressionistic transition in Taos art that influenced later artists such as Robert Daughters and Rod Goebel. Known for his luminous, figure-free landscapes and a highly individualistic approach, Berninghaus earned a reputation as an “artist’s artist."