Winnie Beasley, Flyer
Artist
Anne Noggle
(American, 1922 - 2005)
Date1983
Mediumgelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 11 1/8 × 16 3/16 in. (28.3 × 41.1 cm)
Support: 14 × 16 7/8 in. (35.6 × 42.9 cm)
Mat: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
Support: 14 × 16 7/8 in. (35.6 × 42.9 cm)
Mat: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Anne Noggle from the New Mexico Photographic Survey Project, Museum of Fine Arts, 1981-1984, funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1985
Object number1985.114.10
DescriptionPortrait of woman sitting in sitting in chair looking at viewer. She wears a turtle neck sweater and leggings. Her left hand rest on thigh & her right hand holds dog's head at left of image.eMuseum Notes
In a conversation with curator Katherine Ware on 6/10/2016, Noggle's niece Dale Pease said that when she was a child, she took horseback riding lessons from Winnie Beasley in Santa Fe. Pease mentioned that Beasley was a colorful local character who drove a motorcycle with a side car.
Winnie Beasley, born in Iowa as Winabelle Rawson Pierce in 1906, first rode in an airplane at age eleven and decided to become a pilot. After college at Bryn Mawr and Wellesley she attended secretarial school, but later enrolled in the Lincoln Aviation Flying School in Nebraska. After earning her private pilot’s license, she borrowed money to buy an older plane she named Nellie and then worked toward her commercial license and instructor’s credentials. Beasley went on to teach flying in Texas and Oklahoma and then worked for an airline manufacturer in New York City flying planes between New York and Florida. After World War II, Beasley married Col. Peter Beasley and moved to Las Vegas, N.M. In the 1950s, she used her skills as a pilot to scout the landscape for archeological sites for the Museum of New Mexico and worked as a reporter for the Las Vegas Daily Optic. The couple had four sons and acquired a ranch in Tesuque. After Col. Beasley’s death in 1957, she was married to artist Giuseppe Olmi for a decade. Beasley was also an active participant in Santa Fe’s growing arts scene, as a founding donor to the Santa Fe Opera and supporter of many cultural organizations. She was known as an exuberant local character who rode her motorcycle (with decorated sidecar) around town in all weather. Reporting on her death at her Tesuque home in August 1986, a writer for the Santa Fe New Mexican described Beasley as “equal parts bon vivant and ne’er do well.” Her connection with photographer Anne Noggle undoubtedly stemmed from their shared experience as female pilots. Beasley was honored as one of the first Santa Fe Living Treasures in August 1986.
On View
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