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Mirror image: Rare self-portrait of Taos Society of Artists member, Catharine Carter Critcher, on view at Couse-Sharp Historic Site
鈥淪elf-portrait,鈥 Catharine Carter Critcher, ca. 1900, 38戮x31录 inches, oil on canvas.
A rare and historically significant self-portrait by Catharine Carter Critcher is now on view at the Couse-Sharp Historic Site in Taos.
鈥淲e made a whole lot of phone calls and reached out to friends of the site, and said, 鈥楬ey you guys, this is a really important opportunity,鈥欌 said Davison Koenig, executive director and curator of Couse-Sharp Historic Site. 鈥淐atharine is the only female member of the Taos Society of Artists. She probably had the fewest Taos paintings of any of the Taos Society of Artists. So it makes her work very desirable and sought after.鈥
Couse-Sharp Historic Site staff made an interesting discovery when hanging the portrait.
鈥淣ow that it鈥檚 in strong light, we see something we never noticed in photos and is not in any of the information about the painting that we鈥檝e found,鈥 said Regina Scherffius, director of operations and communication at the Couse-Sharp Historic Site. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a faint figure standing immediately behind Catharine, apparently back to back. Is it a shadow? A spirit? It will be a great conversation to have with those who come to view the painting.鈥
The team is theorizing what the 鈥済host figure鈥 represents, according to Koenig.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 the symbolism there, because it鈥檚 clearly intentional, and it was hard to see in the light in the previous photographs,鈥 he explained. 鈥淏ut once you have it on the wall, properly lit, you go, 鈥榃ait a second. Is that a mirror? No, it鈥檚 not a mirror. Is it someone standing behind her? If so, why?鈥 (It is) kind of interesting, (we) don鈥檛 know.鈥
There is not much known about the painting, and Koenig and his staff want to learn more.
鈥淭he supposition is that this was probably painted during her year studying in Paris because she鈥檚 really young in the portrait,鈥 he said. 鈥淎nd that was and still is a classic in art school, that students are always asked to do a portrait of themselves. That鈥檚 often a rite of passage of art school. So that鈥檚 our guess.鈥
It is 鈥渞eally tough鈥 to put an exact date on when the portrait was painted, according to Koenig.
鈥淲e really didn鈥檛 know about this painting until it came up for auction,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting for us, because at the moment, this is the only known self-portrait of Catharine Critcher.鈥
The portrait was previously in a private collection in New York. The purchase was made possible through the generosity of 14 donors. The work was purchased through the Santa Fe Art Auction on Nov. 8. The piece sold for about $30,000 at auction, according to Koenig.
Critcher (1868鈥1964) was an esteemed portraitist, landscape painter and teacher whose contributions to American art continue to gain recognition, according to a Couse-Sharp Historic Site news release. Critcher was the only woman accepted in to the Taos Society of Artists during its active years between 1915 and 1927.
鈥淐ritcher challenged conventions and opened doors for women in the arts,鈥 according to the news release. 鈥淭his self-portrait provides an intimate and rare glimpse into the artist鈥檚 perspective and character, revealing the strength, poise and determination that marked her career.鈥
The mission of the Couse-Sharp Historic Site is to focus on the underrepresented artists of Taos, particularly female artists, according to Koenig.
鈥淭his has largely been a male dominated world for a very long time and often they didn鈥檛 get the same attention,鈥 he explained. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really excited because it enables us to immediately put it on display and have her presence in the museum at the site and not be overshadowed by the many Anglo men.鈥
The Couse-Sharp Historic Site recently lost one of its matriarchs, co-founder Virginia Couse Leavitt, who died on Nov. 26 at age 92.
Couse Leavitt was the principal scholar on the work of her grandfather, Eanger Irving Couse, the first president of the Taos Society of Artists, according to a Couse-Sharp Historic Site news release. Along with her late husband, Ernest Leavitt, she was the driving force behind preserving the archive, home and studio of Couse along with the property of neighbor Joseph Henry Sharp, also one of the original six members of the Taos Society of Artists.