Ranchos Valley

In 1929, John Marin visited Mabel Dodge Luhan's salon in Taos and had a significant influence on the artistic community. Andrew Dasburg likely knew Marin through Alfred Stieglitz and his gallery 291, but Marin's watercolors in Taos would prompt Dasburg to explore new formal possibilities. Dasburg began using watercolor in the 1930s and, like Marin, emphasized line as not only a descriptive element but also as an expression of unseen forces. Works such as Ranchos Valley would have been painted en plein air, as Dasburg attempted to capture something of his direct emotional and spiritual engagement with the landscape.