The Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico, will open one of its largest and most important traveling exhibitions on May 22. The exhibition will showcase the impact of Mabel Dodge Luhan (1879-1962) and her friends on shaping American Modernism in the Southwest. The entire exhibit is an exploration not only of Mabel Dodge Luhan’s life and influence, but of the history of Southwest art and an exploration of how this tiny multicultural community became the center of the Modernist Art movement.

“Mabel Dodge Luhan & Company: American Moderns and the West” opens in Taos from May 22- September 11, 2016. This exhibition will be the first to explore the influence Mabel Dodge Luhan had on the art, writings and activism of the 20th century American Modernism.

Mabel Dodge Luhan, known as the “Gertrude Stein of the Southwest”, was already a force in the world of artists, philosophers, writers and luminaries, when she came to Taos in 1917. She hosted renowned salons in Florence, Italy and Greenwich Village, New York where creators and thinkers from all walks of society came together to form the seeds that grew into American Modernism. In Taos, she met and married Antonio (Tony) Lujan, and together they worked to attract and host such wellknown personalities such as, D.H. Lawrence, Willa Cather, John Collier, Georgia O’Keeffe, Ansel Adams, John Marin, Marsden Hartley, Paul Strand and Martha Graham — among scores of other luminaries. Summoned to Taos by Mabel and Tony these artists and writers subsequently found, in the remote high desert, intellectual and spiritual inspiration for their work. The work of these artists will be presented in relation to Pueblo and Hispano artists to examine the cultural exchange that formed a unique “Southwest Modernism.”

The exhibition will be presented in eight sections, the first three explore Mabel’s journey to Taos from the gilded age of Buffalo, New York’s high society, through her famous salons in Florence and Greenwich Village, NY (1879-1915). The final sections entitled Taos (1918-1947) The New World at the Edge of the Desert, will present the works of the modernists who were attracted to Taos by Mabel, some of whom made it their home. The exhibit will incorporate art, photos, publications, including Mabel’s autobiography and essays by authors she influenced, music, audio and video.

The Harwood Museum of Art’s exhibit will explore the effect Mabel Dodge Luhan had on art, writing and activism of the 20th century American Modernism. According to Dr. Lois Rudnick and MaLin Wilson-Powell the exhibit’s co-curators, “the exhibition . . .will give the opportunity to explore complex issues such as Native American sovereignty and civil rights, the role Mabel played in promotion of women artists, sexuality and inter-cultural relays, Anglo patronage of Native American and Hispano arts as well as the interchange between these cultures.”

As part of The Harwood Museum of Art’s ongoing mission to bring, “Taos arts to the world and world arts to Taos” and to include the greater Taos community, there will be educational initiatives and programs In conjunction with the exhibition, including a symposium on the interaction of the multiple cultures of Northern New Mexico, community dialogs, lectures, and films.

A 220-page hardcover catalog is available ($45).