Helen Green Blumenschein (1909 - 1989)

Helen Blumenschein was the daughter of nationally famed parents, Ernest and Mary Blumenschein.  In 1919 at the age of ten she was brought by her parents from New York to New Mexico, destined with them to pioneer the arts and crafts movement of Taos.  Miss Blumenschein stressed that her development as an artist was devoid of parental influence other than the strong family creative atmosphere.

A lifetime deep interest in people, ecology and archaeology is evident in Miss Blumenschein’s dominant work subjects, which depict the mountainous southwest in which she lived most of her life.  Her schooling included Taos Schools, The Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, New York; two years study in Paris and printmaking work at the Art Student League in New York City from 1932-36.

She exhibited prints nationally and abroad from 1936-1945 and has had prints purchased by the Carnegie in 1951, New York City Public Library, and the New Jersey Library.  Some of her selected one-person shows of portraits include Oklahoma City Art Center and the New Mexico Museum of Art.

From her arrival in Taos as a small child, driven from the railroad at Raton on the Colorado border by her father, who barely made it over the steep pass, Blumenschein’s work is vital in scope and history.