WILLIAM VICTOR HIGGINS (1884-1949)
Cristo mountains (4,374m-14, 351ft)
United States of America (Colorado and New Mexico)
In Taos mountains New Mexico, 1921, oil on canvas
The mountains
Cristo mountains (culminating at Bianca Peak 4,374m-14, 351ft ), origanally The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountains run from Poncha Pass in South-Central Colorado, trending southeast and south, ending at Glorieta Pass, southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The mountains contain a number of fourteen thousand foot peaks in the Colorado portion, as well as all the peaks in New Mexico which are over thirteen thousand feet.
The name of the mountains may refer to the occasional reddish hues observed during sunrise and sunset, and when alpenglow occurs, especially when the mountains are covered with snow. Although the particular origin of the name is unclear, it has been in use since the early 19th century. Before that time the terms "La Sierra Nevada", "La Sierra Madre", "La Sierra", and "The Snowies" (used by English speakers) were used. According to tradition, "sangre de Cristo" were the last words of a Catholic priest who was killed by Indians.
The artist
William Victor Higgins was an American painter and teacher, born at Shelbyville, Indiana. He studied at the Art Institute in Chicago and at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.
In Paris he was a pupil of Robert Henri, René Menard and Lucien Simon, and when he was in Munich he studied with Hans von Hayek. He was an associate of the National Academy of Design. Higgins moved to Taos, New Mexico in 1913 and joined in 1917 the Taos Society of Artists founded two years before by Joseph Henry Sharp, W. Herbert Dunton, Eanger Irving Couse et Oscar Edmund Berninghaus.
In 1923 he founded The Hartwood Foundation with Louise Harwood and Bert Phillips. He then painted a lot of works representing the mountains range surrounding the city of Taos and especially the Pueblo Mountains.
During the Depression, he was commissioned to paint a mural inside the Taos County Courthouse financed by the PWAP, titled Moises, El Legislador.
2021 - Wandering Vertexes / Mountain paintings
By Francis Rousseau
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