Santa Fe, NM
Nedra Matteucci Galleries, June 27-September 30
Wilson Hurley, Thunderstorm Building in the Sandias, oil, 48 x 48.
This story was featured in the June 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
LAST MONTH saw the publication of The Life and Art of Wilson Hurley, a new biography of the widely admired western landscape painter who passed away in 2008, written by his widow, Rosalyn Roembke Hurley. Profusely illustrated with thumbnails, plein-air field studies, and finished studio paintings, the book is the first of its kind to detail the artist’s goals and methodology. To celebrate the book and the man alike, Nedra Matteucci Galleries—his sole representative during his career—presents a major retrospective of about 20 of Hurley’s works. Although current public health concerns likely preclude the customary opening reception and book signing, the exhibition is on view for the entire summer, and every one of the paintings is available to be appreciated close-up on the gallery’s website. Copies of the book, signed by Mrs. Hurley, are available for purchase online.
Hurley dedicated himself full time to painting in 1965, at the age of 40, having already enjoyed successful careers as a pilot, an engineer, and an attorney. With the same distinction he brought to those pursuits, he quickly became an outstanding artist of large-scale western landscapes that earned admiring comparisons to the romantic works of artists such as Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Cole, Frederic William Church, and Thomas Mo-ran. Just over a decade later, he won his first of several gold medals from the National Academy of Western Art; he received the National Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Trustees’ Award in 1977 and its prestigious Prix de West in 1984.
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- Wilson Hurley, The Soft Beauty of the World, oil, 36 x 60.
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- Wilson Hurley, A Storm Clearing Off the Sandias, oil, 44 x 80.
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- Wilson Hurley, Sundown at the Narrows, oil, 36 x 36.
Indeed, Hurley gained such preeminence in his new career that, between 1992 and 1996, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City invited him to paint five 18-by-46-foot triptych murals for its events center. Entitled WINDOWS TO THE WEST, the murals capture iconic landscapes in California, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico, his home state from the age of 11.
“Wilson was a master at capturing the beauty and intimacy of the world around us,” notes Dustin Belyeu, sales director at Nedra Matteucci Galleries. The paintings in the show amply bear out that observation: THE SOFT BEAUTY OF THE WORLD portrays a vast panorama timelessly trans-formed by crepuscular light. THUNDERSTORM BUILDING IN THE SANDIAS presents a monumental cloud that dwarfs the peaks Hurley could see from the home and studio north of Albuquerque, where he lived and worked during the final 21 years of his life. Of such impressive offerings, sums up Belyeu, “We always see a sunset or a storm gathering and think how wonderful it is, and then we are on to the next one. Wilson’s technical skill enabled him to capture those moments of natural beauty in a way that not many other artists are capable of.” —Norman Kolpas
contact information
505.982.4631
www.matteucci.com
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- Wilson Hurley, City Lights, oil, 32 x 48.
This story was featured in the June 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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