The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

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
gelatin silver print
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.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1983.202
© Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive
Location: Not on view

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.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 336
  • From Riches to Rags: American Photography in the Depression. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 13-December 31, 2017).
    Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007).
    Legacy of Light: Seven Masters in Depth. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 20-February 2, 1996).
    The Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-April 9, 1989).
    The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).
  • {{cite web|title=Church, Rancho de Taos, New Mexico|url=false|author=Paul Strand|year=1931|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1983.202