The opening of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1917 is central in the development of Santa Fe’s architectural history and its growth as an artist colony. In 1915, Museum of New Mexico director Dr. Edgar Lee Hewett ambitiously decided to construct an art gallery reproducing the New Mexico Building created for San Diego’s Panama-California Exposition. The design by Rapp, Rapp, and Hendrickson blended architectural elements from six Franciscan mission churches at Acoma, San Felipe, Cochiti, Laguna, Santa Ana, and Pecos Pueblos. The interiors of the museum and the auditorium display fine decorative features, including murals by painters
Donald Beauregard, Carlos Vierra and Kenneth Chapman. Hewett conceived a unique open-door studio and exhibition policy for local and visiting artists that encouraged many visiting artists to settle in Santa Fe. Today, it maintains and displays its important permanent collection highlighting many of the fine artists who lived and worked in Santa Fe during its development as an artist colony.
From Old Santa Fe Today, 5th edition by Audra Bellmore with photographs by Simone Frances.
