Friday, July 18, 2008

New Mexico Vacation - Day 3

My parents home in the Red River Upper Valley is one of the few stucco homes in the Red River area. The morning of July 5, I took this photo showing the contrast of the tan stucco with the blue sky and the reflected sky in the windows. I also took the photo below of the southern ridge and the sky with clouds.







This is the day we were to go to Taos. I had been reading some of the books on the cabin bookshelf about the area and was learned about some of the early Taos Pioneers of Arts and Literature that were known throughout the modern world. Three names that show up in this history are Mabel Dodge Luhan, Dorothy Brett, and Frieda Lawrence. Mabel Dodge Luhan was the a cultural leader in the area and invited many well known writers and artists to her home and ranch in the Taos area, including Georgia O'Keefe and D.H. Lawrence, who lived in the area before moving on to their respected lives in other areas. D.H. Lawrence returned to Europe only to come back to the Taos area in an urn ultimately to have his ashes poured into the cement of his own memorial. Georgia O'Keefe returned to New York, ultimately to come back to Northern NM to paint 20 or so years later and remained the rest of her life.
Road to Mabel Dodge Luhan's Lorenzo Ranch, where she entertained many visual and literary artists. Additional photos including those of the D.H. Lawrence Memorial and Dororthy Brett Cabin may be seen in this Gallery.
Mabel Dodge Luhan's home in Taos New Mexico. This home is now a retreat and Hotel on the east side of Taos. An interesting note is that this home was briefly owned by Dennis Hopper when he was directing movies in the area. Easy Rider was filmed in the Taos area in the mid 60's as the Hippie invasion shook the Taos area. Additional images of this home are also in the gallery link above.

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