Visit the OJAC this fall exhibition season to view Santa Fe Scene, by one of “Los Cinco Pintores,” artist Józef Bakos.
Bakos was an American painter of Polish descent. He was perhaps best known as a teacher, but he exhibited widely in major American museums, helping to increase national recognition and respect for New Mexico painting.
Santa Fe Scene, c. 1936. JOZEF BAKOS. Oil on canvas. 1991.003
Bakos’s early painting style was really emotional and influenced by Van Gogh and the painting of the Expressionists. His later style moved towards cubism and abstraction. And this work from the OJAC collection bridges that shift and reflects both beautifully, don’t you think?
Bakos was born in Buffalo, New York in 1891. He studied art at the Albright Art Institute in Buffalo, New York, and then moved to work at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
In 1920, while the University was closed due to a flu epidemic, Bakos visited a childhood friend and artist who was living in Santa Fe. During his stay there, Bakos and his friend exhibited some work together there at the Museum of Fine Arts. It was then that the artist then decided to relocate to the city permanently.
Not long after his move, Bakos formed an artists' group called "Los Cinco Pintores" (the five painters.) This was Santa Fe's first Modernist art group- and they produced works that depicted uniquely American subjects such as the New Mexico landscape, local adobe architecture and Native American ceremonial dances.
The Pintores dissolved after only five years of working and exhibiting together, but Bakos remained in Santa Fe as much as possible -teaching and working odd jobs to support his painting and other personal hobbies such as home brewing, carpentry and furniture making.
Though it wasn’t his hometown, Santa Fe was the home of his heart, and he would live and create there until his passing in 1977.
Hannah Rankin, Campus Outreach Instructor