BERT GREER PHILLIPS (American 1868-1956). Corpus Christi Sunday in Taos. Oil on panel. 13 x 18 inches (33 x 45.7 cm). Si...

Description

BERT GREER PHILLIPS (American 1868-1956)
Corpus Christi Sunday in Taos
Oil on panel
13 x 18 inches (33 x 45.7 cm)
Signed lower left: Phillips
Inscribed on reverse: Corpus Cristi Sunday in Taos by Bert Phillips

Provenance:
Mark Sublette, Medicine Man Gallery (Santa Fe, New Mexico);
Ex Harmsen Collection, Denver Art Museum (Denver, Colorado)

Born in Hudson, New York, Bert Phillips began his artistic career at age fifteen studying at the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design. He continued his training in Paris at Académie Julian, where he met artists Joseph Henry Sharp and Ernest Blumenschein, who would become life-long friends. Phillips is considered the founder of the Taos art colony and was deeply involved in promoting the town and pueblo to other artists. He adopted a modern approach by painting Taos Pueblo Indians in a vibrantly colored, realistic style that conveyed the romantic notions he felt about the culture.

Considered one the top ten paintings by Phillips, Corpus Christi Sunday in Taos captures over forty worshippers in their Sunday best during the celebration of Corpus Christi. A traditional Catholic festival observed on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi commemorates the Christian Eucharist, in which the wine and wafer are symbolically transformed into the body and blood of Christ. The painting is in pristine condition and is accompanied by a letter of authenticity.

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