The monumental exhibition, Southwest Rising: Contemporary Art and the Legacy of Elaine Horwitch, is organized by the Tucson Museum of Art and curated by its Chief Curator, Dr. Julie Sasse.  This captivating display not only provides viewers with an intriguing overview of diverse Southwestern art but also is a compelling presentation about a visionary gallery dealer who altered the perception about fine art of this area of the United States.

According to Sasse the project originally started out as a book—she was encouraged by artists to make known the story about Elaine Horwitch and her influence on creating a vibrant art scene emerging in the Southwest from the 1960s on.  The 550-page volume[1] accompanying this show was written by Julie Sasse.  It is both an excellent biography about Elaine Horwitch and a powerful cultural history about the art and artists of the Southwest, demonstrating how she created a new art market and new audience.  According to Sasse, “It was such a good story. It was sort of like Paris in the ’20s in Santa Fe, a little Renaissance happening in New Mexico and even in Scottsdale.”  There is no better person to disclose this biographical narrative then Sasse as she worked closely with Horwitch from November 1, 1980 until the time of her death in 1991 and stayed on with the gallery until February 1995.  Sasse acted in different roles from “Director of the Scottsdale Gallery, Director of the Santa Fe Gallery, Operations Director (for all five galleries—Horwitch had 2 in Scottsdale—a graphics gallery and the main gallery).

Many concur that Elaine Horwitch was a bigger then life character.  She was an outspoken, brave and flamboyant woman who had a vision and became a significant oomph in contemporary art in the Southwest from the 1970s until her untimely sudden death in 1991.

In the book’s introduction Julie Sasse writes, “Fearless and spirited, Horwitch was known for her singular cowgirl appearance.  Always by her side, apart from a pearl-handled Smith & Wesson pistol, that she often brandished to the delight and horror of her patrons, was a woven pictorial Navajo bag of a cow in a landscape.”

Horwitch came to Scottsdale from Chicago in 1955 and opened an unconventional art venue along with Suzanne Brown called The Art Wagon in the 1960s.  The two women would drive around the area selling art prints from the back of their station wagons to Jewish women’s groups, school groups and any interested person.  The first Elaine Horwitch Galleries were in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1973, and in 1976 she opened galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1976; Sedona, Arizona, in 1982; and Palm Springs, California, in 1986.  Her dedication to working with a wide range of artists and being open to numerous styles and medium, resulted in her launching the careers of hundreds of contemporary artists from Arizona, New Mexico and other regions.  Furthermore, she presented the works of such artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Victor Vasarely, Louise Nevelson and Larry Rivers whose work was dissimilar to Southwestern artists yet helped broaden both artists and viewers perceptions about art.  Horwitch became known as a frontrunner in promoting what became known as “new Western art” or “Southwest pop” and bringing that movement to the American consciousness.

The 70 works on view by 100 artists represent only the tip of the iceberg of the most popular artists that the Elaine Horwitch Galleries’ represented and exhibited, comprising painting, sculpture, works on paper and ceramics.  This collection of work comes from the TMA’s permanent collection that was gifted to the museum, bought years ago, or on loan from other institutions, individuals or galleries.  One sees here an expansive scope of art and innovation that unfolded not only in the Southwest during a vital time of change but also across the USA.  Among this diverse group are Tom Palmore, Billy Schenck, Anne Coe, John Fincher, James Havard, Fritz Scholder, Georgia O’Keeffe, Louise Nevelson, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, and Bob Wade.

In several auxiliary galleries the works of regional artists’ known for their contemporary Southwestern imagery, including Philip C. Curtis, Moira Geoffrion, Harmony Hammond, Richard Hogan, Paul Pletka, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Emmi Whitehorse are displayed.  There is no single style or art movement that dominates this multifaceted exhibit.  What the viewer sees first is a compendium of diverse works.  Nevertheless what connects these pieces is an overt presence of vibrant color and dramatic light, an acknowledgment of a Western aesthetic with its Native American and Mexican cultures, as well as a distinct landscape with mountains, cacti and adobe structures.  Sasse expressed, “You don’t have to follow stereotypes. You can see the desert or the Southwest or the mountains or cowboy art or anything through a new perspective and still retain some of the essence that makes the region worthy of focus.”

Fritz Scholder, an internationally renowned artist who was partially Native American, descending from the Luiseño a California Mission tribe, and raised in Minnesota, was Horwitch’s utmost find according to Julie Sasse. “She took him on at the onset of his career when he was just starting to get a national reputation.” His work evinces a post-modern sensibility, along with being a type amalgamation of Color Field, Expressionism and Pop Art.  Through his work he attempted to deconstruct the myths about the American Indian; he revitalized as well as reconfigured the ideas about the Modern “Indian art” experience while portraying essences of their culture.   One of the most outstanding paintings in the show is Scholder’s Eagle Dancer, 1977 (left).  This work evinces a Native American engaged in the Eagle dance that was common among Indian tribes and was performed the when there was a need for divine intervention.  A minimal yellow background frames the single dancer clothed with replications of eagle attire. Scholder’s vigorous, confidant brush strokes enhance the movements of the dancer contributes to revealing the energy of this ceremonial spiritual dance.

Another work that celebrates the heritage of Native Americans is Paul Dyck, Shoshoni Sundance (1965-1970).  He portrays a ritualistic dance in the painterly style reminiscent of William Turner’s dramatic spectacles of light.  The dancing figures a glow in red under an open-air linear wood structure is reduced to essences of energetic forms in an all-encompassing green mist.  Viewers are transported to a private ceremonial moment on the reservation.

Anne Coe’s bold popish art composition “Getting Supplies”, 1984 shows a scene from inside a pick-up truck driving down a ranch road flanked with tall saguaro tree-like cacti against an intense, open blue sky with mountains in the far distance.  She captures a familiar western scene imbued with a fresh contemporary art influence.

An artist’s whose work also defined the Southwest pop style was Billy Schenck. Wyoming #44, 1973 is a powerful oil-on-canvas depicts a scene from the film “Once Upon a Time in the West,” starring Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda.  It encapsulates that cinematic moment of the Wild West with cowboys and their guns against a stunning blue/gray sky.

Right: Billy Schenk, Wyoming #44 (1973), Oil on canvas. A scene from the film “Once Upon a Time in the West,” (Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda). Tucson Museum of Art. Gift of Ivan and Marilynn Karp.

Joe Baker’s painting, “Camp Horwitch,” is a tribute to Horwitch and the renowned gatherings that took place at her ranch.  In the foreground of this image a Native American on horseback with full feather hair dress appears to be saluting her coral adobe house.  Although figurative in style, the execution of the arid grounds and structure verge towards the abstract.  Because of the notorious social gatherings of artists, celebrities and collectors, her friends started calling Horwitch’s home Camp Horwitch.

The Bull Pen, 1978 by Howard Post (right: Tucson Museum of Art, Gift of Lynn Taber), is a mesmerizing painting in which a bull lies in a fence labyrinth of linear turquoise railings.  Deep shadows striate the grid-like enclosure against a mottled yellow ground camouflaging the confined animal.  Although this appears to be a picture about a common ranch scene nonetheless Post’s handling of the image exceeds the familiar altering the realistic portrayal into an array of shapes, tones and light.

James Havard, recognized for his Abstract Illusionist works, is represented here with the piece “Brahma Spread,” 1980, a mixed acrylic on canvas.   Although trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in a realistic manner, he became influenced by the aesthetics of indigenous and native artists.   This brightly colorful abstract configuration demonstrates Havard’s acute painterly aptitude as well as his ability to create an illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface.

Opposite in approach is Merrill Mahaffey’s, “Deep Canyon Morning”, 1984 in which he captures the majesty of an enormous canyon along a sparkling riverbed.  The rising bold rock formation in the background, with his striated layers and amazing colors, is highlighted by the glow of sunlight that accentuates the natural formations distinct to the southwestern landscape.  As the Hudson River School landscapes are characterized by their realistic, detailed, and idealized portrayal of nature Mahaffey construes the awe and wonder of the scene before him. 

Also, rendered in a realistic approach is Susan Hertel’s “Black Horse, Chestnut, Summer,” that amplifies the mundane from a unique point of view.  A contented brown horse in the background seems to be enjoying time in the field is framed with by the body of a dark horse’s underbelly.  It is the angle and boldness of this form that results a captivating work.

This eclectic exhibition is neither about “out of the box” art nor is it tepid.  It is about the idiosyncratic vision of Elaine Horwitch, a woman who saw beyond stereotypes and was determined to teach audiences about the relevance of Native American culture, ranch life, the uniqueness of the Southwestern landscape and how contemporary artists were influenced by these subject, as well as by new ideas of Modernism.  Before it was trendy to support or show minority artists and focus on issues of identity, Horwitch was influential in familiarizing audiences to Latino and Native American artists, as well as regional artists who celebrated this distinct region of the United States.  She didn’t need to look to New York City for her cues—she trusted herself and was willing to take risks.  In time after the shutdown of Covid-19, the Tucson Museum of Art will again open and visitors will be able experience and enjoy this magnificent display. If you cannot see the show, Julie Sasses’ book is a must read!

By Elaine A. King, Contributing Writer

Art Critic & Curator, living in Bethesda, MD

Southwest Rising: Contemporary Art and the Legacy of Elaine Horwitch

Through September 20, 2020 (museum currently closed)

---

[1]  Julie Sasses, Southwest Rising: Contemporary Art and the Legacy of Elaine Horwitch, Co-published by Cattle Track Arts & Preservation and Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ, 2020.

A new book by Dr. Julie Sasse, Chief Curator at Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, celebrates one of the most powerful and influential art dealers in Arizona and New Mexico art history. Southwest Rising: Contemporary Art and the Legacy of Elaine Horwitch, co-published by Cattle Track Arts & Preservation and Tucson Museum of Art. “Southwest Rising: Contemporary Art and the Legacy of Elaine Horwitch”. $32.00 – $44.00. Prices includes shipping.