Santa Fe Hills, 1917
Leon Kroll (American, 1884 - 1947)
oil on canvas, 34 x 40 1/4 in. (86.4 x 102.2 cm)
Gift of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, 1972
2266.23P
Leon Kroll was born in New York City where he spent many hours as a young man looking at the paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He earned his tuition for the Art Students League by sweeping floors and washing paintbrushes, and was there encouraged by Winslow Homer to pursue a career in painting. After additional studies in Paris, Kroll returned to New York in 1910, earning critical and popular success. He became associated with a circle of contemporary artists and participated with them in the 1913 Armory Show, a pivotal exhibition introducing both European and American 'modern' art, to the American public, and stimulating artists to revise their attitudes to art and the tradition of representational painting.
Reflective Questions and Activities:
| S | Although the artist offers us a view of a traditional scene in Santa Fe in the early 20th century, he does so in a modernist painting style. What breakthroughs in painting had been happening in Europe? How did that affect artists in New York and elsewhere? Whose work clearly influenced Leon Kroll’s style? Explain why. |