Artwork Page for Church, Rancho de Taos, New Mexico

Details / Information for Church, Rancho de Taos, New Mexico

Church, Rancho de Taos, New Mexico

1931

Paul Strand

(American, 1890–1976)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print
Measurements
Image: 9.2 x 11.9 cm (3 5/8 x 4 11/16 in.); Matted: 30.6 x 35.6 cm (12 1/16 x 14 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1983.202
Copyright
© Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

Built with mud, straw, and sun-baked adobe bricks in the early 1800s, this church is still an active place of worship today.

Description

The 18th-century adobe church of San Francisco de Assisi in Rancho de Taos, New Mexico, was an icon of pure form for modernist artists from Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams to Paul Strand, who spent summers in Taos from 1930 to 1932. Ansel Adams also chose this view of the back with its sculptural buttresses, stating that “it is the rear elevation that defines this building as one of the great architectural monuments of America.” Strand's picture of this notable church explores the relationship between the three- and two-dimensional worlds. While remaining representational, it emphasizes the building’s abstract qualities.
Horizontally oriented black-and-white photograph showing the geometric structure of the back of the church of San Francisco de Assisi in Rancho de Taos, New Mexico. A central, roughly rectangular prism shaped section is flanked by two more like sections. Center and left, they have rectangular buttresses extending diagonally approximately half way up and merging with the smooth, mud walls. Above the church extend cloudy skies and below sandy ground.

Church, Rancho de Taos, New Mexico

1931

Paul Strand

(American, 1890–1976)
America

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