Robert Daughters (New Mexico / Arizona, 1929-2013), Southwestern landscape with adobe, circa 1960s, signed lower right, inscribed "Albuquerque" on the verso

sight: 13 x 20 in., frame: 21.5 x 28 in.

Provenance: Property from a home in Midland, Texas

Robert Daughters studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design while working as Curator of Display at the St. Joseph Museum of Natural History, later building a successful advertising art career in Kansas City. There, he earned numerous honors from the National Society of Art Directors and other professional organizations before turning fully to a career in fine art. After discovering Taos in 1953 and relocating permanently to New Mexico in the early 1970s, Daughters devoted more than three decades to painting the Southwest, developing a highly distinctive style he calls “composism,” emphasizing strong structural design, color harmony, and the dramatic alternation of light and dark values. His hallmark technique—described as “cloisonné”—uses dark lines to separate areas of bold color, creating sharply defined forms and luminous contrast in landscapes painstakingly developed from photographs, sketches, and plein-air studies. Daughters received major recognition at the 1972 New Mexico State Fair, winning Best of Show, the Governor’s Purchase Award, and a Merit Award; he later exhibited nationally and internationally, including the 1981 “Collection of Art of the West” in Beijing, was featured in “Covering the West – The Best of Southwest Art” (1995), highlighted in Southwest Art magazine’s 30th Anniversary issue (2004), and honored with the 2004 Master’s of the Southwest Award from Phoenix Home & Garden, affirming his stature as a leading interpreter of Southwestern landscape.