Willard Ayer Nash (1898-1943)
Nash was born in Philadelphia, PA on March 29, 1898. He studied art with John P. Wicker in Detroit.
He moved to Santa Fe at the age of 22.
In the Fall of 1921 Nash, with his fellow Santa Fe painters Jozef Bakos, Fremont Ellis, Will Shuster and Walter Mruk created “Los Cinco Pintores”.
Nash's brief and promising career was ended by tuberculosis at the age of 44.
Known as the "American Cezanne," Nash was honored by Diego Rivera as "one of the six greatest living American painters."
Nash said, " I always considered myself a Santa Fean, and my deepest hope is to some day pick up where I left off."
In 1936, Nash moved to California.
He taught at Broadmoor Art Academy in Colorado Springs, at San Francisco Art School, and at the Art Center School in Los Angeles.
He died in Albuquerque on Sept. 3, 1942.
Willard Nash Highest Auction Prices
"Santa Fe Landscape" Price: $140,400
"View of Santa Fe" (Landscape) Price: $137,000
"Self Portrait with Pipe" Price: $35,000
"View of Ranchos and Leg Study" Price: $35,000
"Northern New Mexico Village" Price: $33,000
"Santa Fe Landscape" Price: $32,500
"Penitente Procession" 1929 Price: $30,260
"Still Life with Guitar" Price: $27,500
"LANDSCAPE-CERILLOS" Price: $25,000
"Santa Fe Vista" Price: $23,900
Willard Ayer Nash Exhibitions:
American Artists Congress, 1936, 1940
Courvoisier Gallery (SF), 1933
Los Angeles Art Association, 1934, 1941
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1928, 1938
Painters & Sculptors of LA, 1938
Rose Gallery (LA), 1937
San Francisco Art Association, 1931, 1939
Society of Independent Artists
Willard Nash Museum Collections:
Anschutz Collection
Corcoran Gallery and/or Art School, Washington DC
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Dallas Museum of Art
Denver Museum
Jonson Gallery of University of New Mexico
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Museum of Modern Art, New York
New Mexico Museum of Art
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
Stark Museum of Art
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
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