Phillips said about Taos, "I believe it is the romance of this great pure-aired land that makes the most lasting impression on my mind and heart."  "We had heard of Taos, the home and burial place of Kit Carson, of the Indian People who live in 5 storied communal houses and the beautiful Spanish girls. Romance and Beauty: pictures to be painted: Adventure, all word of song. Then, in a few short weeks I had found more inspiration and material for creative work than I could use in a lifetime. More than that, I had found the ideal climate for outdoor work. Also a realization that one artist alone could do no more than scratch the surface of this locality. While the great southwest and artistic empire was practically undiscovered country to the art world. Especially by people in the profession that have almost lost the pioneer spirit."

"Sometimes I ask myself why I remain away from the land of civilization, but never before have I tried to formulate a reply. I have simply been content to stay on. The charm of the great stretches of mountain and plains and interest of their inhabitants is never ending. As I visit their villages and talk with my Indian friends, I see and hear the young bucks wrapped in their white blankets standing on the ridge, singing a love song in the moonlight, and I feel the romance of youth.

So the answer comes as I write and "I believe it is the romance of this great pure-aired land that makes the most lasting impression on my mind and heart." "Nothing could be more natural than that a distinctive American art idea should develop on a soil  so richly imbued with romance, history and scenic beauty as is to be found in the far famed beautiful Taos Valley and the poetic Indian Village of the Taos Pueblos."

Bert Geer Phillips was born on July 15, 1868, in Hudson, New York

Inspired by finding an arrowhead, long lost by a Mohegan Indian, he was 

fascinated to read James Fenimore Cooper.  Kit Carson, of Taos and Southwester fame, and the 

American Indian were the great heroes of Bert Geer Phillips' youth.

His artistic talent was shown by the fact that he could draw well before he could read,  and by winning 

the first place prize at the county fair for a collection of his watercolors.

He began to formally study Art at the early age of 16,

gaining admittance to the Art Students League of New York and the National Academy of Design.

He continued  to study for five years in New York City at the Art Students League and the National 

Academy of Design.

In 1894 he enrolled at the Académie Julian,

becoming best friends with Ernest Blumenschein and Joseph Henry Sharp.

Sharp was the first to tell Phillips about the special qualities of the brilliant mountain light in Taos.

The intensity of the high desert light in Taos enabled the artists to see more colors.

(The light in Taos is brighter and this needs to be seen to be fully experienced.  Parsons invites you to visit and enjoy.)

Phillips was honored to become a student of George McKinstry.

And he was fortunate to be selected to study with Benjamin Constant and Jean Paul Lauren.

Phillips was an honored student at the Academie Julian in Paris, 

the National Academy of Design School and the Art Students League of New York.

At the National Academy of Design he won the Bronze Medal in life class.

Before he traveled to the West, Phillips had a successful career painting western illustrations, working 

from models and research. 

In 1896, returning to New York, he began to share a studio with Blumenschein.

He then moved to Taos in 1898, stopping there as a result of the now famous “unfortunate accident" 

of a broken wagon wheel.

He became the first of the important Taos Artists to permanently settle there.

Because they were no Art Galleries, Phillips showed his work from his studio,

beginning the “Studio” tradition that endures in Taos and New Mexico to this day.

He married Rose Martin, the sister of the local doctor, Tomas "Doc" Martin, in 1899.

The Taos Society would be organized from a meeting at Doc Martin’s house.

He became a founder of the Taos Society of Artists in 1912.

In 1951 he became a benefactor of Harold Dow Bugbee,

 the curator of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas.

Phillips was the first and key, the founding figure in the Taos Art Colony.

According to Blumenschein, "Phillips is the foundation on which the Taos group built!" (El Palacio, May 1926).

It is thought that Phillips was the closest of all the artists to the Taos Pueblo Indians.

He helped to protect the “sacred mountain" of the Taos Pueblo Indians from prospectors.

In the end his eyesight failed, causing him to give up painting completely.

He died on June 16, 1956 in San Diego, California, just three years after the death of his wife.

"Taos Mountain"

"Indian Fishing"

"Nar-Ah-Kig-Gee-Ah Tzur"

"Wild Plum Blossoms"

"Our Washerwoman's Family"

"Corpus Christi Sunday in Taos"

"Mural Indian Sketch"

"Wales"

Anschutz Collection

Buffalo Bill Historical Center

Butler Institute of American Art

Chicago Union League Club

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

Denver Art Museum

Desert Caballeros Western Museum

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art

Frederic Remington Art Museum

Gilcrease Museum

Harmsen Western Art Collection

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

John F Eulich Collection

Jonson Gallery of University of New Mexico

Mulvane Art Museum

Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri-Columbia

Museum of New Mexico

Museum of The Southwest

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

Phoenix Art Museum

San Diego Museum of Art

Sangre De Cristo Arts Center

Santa Fe Railroad

Stark Museum of Art

The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art

The Harwood Museum of Art

The Philbrook Museum of Art, Inc.

Union League Club of Chicago

William Foxley Collection-Western

Woolaroc Museum