Barranca (New Mexico Landscape)
Artist
Cady Wells
(American, 1904 - 1954)
Datecirca 1937
Mediumwatercolor on paper
DimensionsImage: 15 1/8 × 21 15/16 in. (38.4 × 55.7 cm)
Support: 15 1/8 × 21 15/16 in. (38.4 × 55.7 cm)
Mat: 22 × 28 in. (55.9 × 71.1 cm)
Support: 15 1/8 × 21 15/16 in. (38.4 × 55.7 cm)
Mat: 22 × 28 in. (55.9 × 71.1 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of the Cady Wells Estate, 1982
Object number1982.16.35a
DescriptionClose-up of the base and sides of a mesa dotted with pinons done in brown tones interspersed with light blue markings.eMuseum Notes
This formation of tuff or volcanic ash lay outside Cady Wells's new home in Jacona in the Pojoaque Valley. The barranca would become a beloved motif for Wells, and he returned to the subject throughout his career. This watercolor is consistent with the work Wells produced in the late 1930s in its reductive approach to form and its economy of line. By devoting little space to the representation of the sky, Wells gave the barranca a monumentality, as it looms over the viewer.
On View
Not on view
Physical/Intellectual