A New Town on the Plains

A New Town on the Plains is likely a companion to another untitled study Ernest Blumenschein produced of a town on the American Great Plains. Blumenschein did not record the specific location but may have painted the sketch in Colorado or Kansas in 1898. In spring 1898, he met with author William Allen White in Kansas and then accompanied Bert Geer Phillips to Denver that summer. He probably encountered this scene during those travels. Blumenschein used a decidedly horizontal orientation to emphasize the insistent horizon on the Great Plains, and he captured the flavor of the vernacular architecture, which was often built quickly using readily available milled lumber and manufactured nails.

In September 1898, Blumenschein and Phillips left for Mexico but inadvertently happened on Taos, New Mexico, when the wheel of their wagon broke. The two were immediately taken with the village and would spend the majority of their respective careers in Taos.