The Impressive Millicent Rogers Museum

Sunday May 25, 2015                                             Most Recent Posts
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Today was my last day to spend out and about in Taos. Tomorrow will be pack up day and Tuesday I leave.  I’m not usually a big museum goer but the Millicent Rogers Museum had been highly recommended for Native American Arts.  So I set out to catch breakfast on the way.

I was headed to the Farmhouse Cafe when I happened to catch a sign for The Taos Center for the Arts and pulled in to check it out.  It’s an interesting building.

I got out to see what information I could find and when I saw the upcoming features I couldn’t believe I’d missed  “Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light” shown last week WHILE I WAS HERE.  What was the chance that it would be here during my two weeks  and  that still I would miss it.

The film was made by Paul Wagner a Charlottesville based Academy and Emmy award winning filmmaker who has done some wonderful things, many of which have premiered at Sundance.  I was crushed to have missed it.

The Farmhouse Café, whose slogan is “local, organic and made with love”, was very busy on this Sunday morning as I should have expected.  I waited 30 minutes outside where I talked to some local folks who live just outside of Taos and love it.  I must say that from every thing I’ve seen, Taos seems like my kind of place and my people.

There was seating inside and outside.  This room had the yummy bakery counter.

This was my favorite room and I was lucky to have the table on the far left.   The light that messed up the picture made me love the room.

I hope the fact that when I was seated I got no menu, the table was still wet and I had to dry it off and ultimately had to ask for silverware, was due to a shortage of staff or some good reason.   It was not an impressive beginning.

The best table was occupied by Daniel and Lassendra from Clovis NM and Lubbock TX respectively.  She had the biggest pancakes I’d seen in a while.  Made with almond flour and served with seasonal fruit, powdered sugar, pecans, butter and real maple syrup.  She said they were delicious and if I hadn’t already ordered I might well have gotten them.   Wish I had time to return on another day.   But I took a picture of them.  They definitely covered the plate.

I ordered the Farmhouse scramble with squash, bell pepper, onions, greens, mushrooms, and cheddar cheese served with potatoes and sour dough toast.

Despite the sketchy beginning, my waitress was great!

From there I went to the Millicent Roger’s Museum which  is a former home of friends of the family and set in gorgeous surroundings with interesting sculptures on the grounds.

Inside I was introduced to Rogers whom I knew nothing about.

Millicent Rogers (1902-1953) was the granddaughter of the co-founder of Standard Oil and as such entertained people from around the world.  She was a fashionista of her day and a trendsetter known for her signature look of many silver and turquoise bracelets on each arm, large earrings and vibrant beaded and silver necklaces .   She settled in Taos in 1947 and established a rapport with members of the Taos Pueblo Community through many friendships and her patronage of Native American Arts.  As a child she had rheumatic fever and battled life long health challenges which eventually resulted in her death at the relatively young age of 51 from heart and lung complications

In 1956, at the age of 25, Paul Peralta-Ramos (1931-2003) her youngest son established the museum to showcase the arts and culture of the region  .  He spent his life building the collection of now more than 7000 items all in honor of his mother.

The museum is a bit of a labyrinth beginning in large open rooms and wandering further and further.  I loved the many large windows and glass doors letting in the brilliant sunlight.

The collection includes artistry of all kinds including beautiful weavings, basketry, pottery, jewelry, sculpture, religious iconography, paintings…..you get the picture.

I was thrilled to see the large collection of Maria Martinez pottery.

Maria Martinez (1887-1980) of San Idlefonso Pueblo is an icon in Native American Art. She is famous for her traditionally made black-on-black Puebloan-style pottery and is the main reason I wanted to come to the Rogers Museum.

There was wonderful information about Maria and her husband Julian(1879-1943) explaining their collaboration in the pottery making.  She made most of the pottery with superb skill in creating a uniformly consistent and very fine surface.  The close attention to detail which is a hallmark of their work is thought to have come from Julian’s influence.   Many of the prehistoric designs on their work are also thought to have come from his notes taken while working for the Museum of New Mexico.  Together they developed most of the forms and decorating styles that would be used by their family for the next century. 

Julian at a Kiva being excavated at Bandelier in 1908.

Their third son Popovi Da (1922-1971) continued and expanded their tradition of pottery making.  By 1960 he had become so skilled that he began decorating Maria’s pottery in the same way his father had done.  In five years, he extended the techniques of firing by creating a new pottery color, sienna.   He experimented further to produce sienna and blackware pots.  This difficult technique involves firing a piece twice in order to obtain the two different colors.

Maria and her husband Julian had a close relationship with Millicent Rogers and her youngest son and museum founder, Paul Peralta-Ramos.   These ties resulted in several major gifts to the museum by Maria’s family beginning in the 1980’s and continuing to the present.  The newly installed Maria Martinez Gallery houses these gifts.

The display of traditional firing was intricate and very  interesting but too detailed to include.  Suffice it to say that firing a piece twice is a very tricky business.

Also on display was pottery from other nearby pueblos including more recent pieces from Taos Pueblo circa 1980-90.

A contemporary piece (1985) from the Hopi Reservation.

Various forms of sculpture were displayed both outside and inside the museum.

Another major exhibit in the museum was Native American Jewelry much of it owned and worn by Millicent Rogers.  There is a progression of styles beginning with the late 1800’s and continuing to the present.  I read that a lot of the jewelry here was produced by the Diné people (Navajo Nation) along with some by Zuni Pueblo, Hopi Pueblo and Kewa Pueblo Communities.  Also there is a section of the jewelry collection designed by Rogers herself. 

This necklace is made of 294 pieces of Cerillos and Blue Gem mined turquois and is described as the most iconic of the pieces of Southwestern jewelry owned by Millicent Rogers.  It was purchased for her by a friend at the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial in 1946.   It is stunning to see in person.  The size of the pieces is incredible.

This is only the beginning of the art in this museum.  What follows is a quick look at the other art works and the amazing building itself.  If you are in Taos do not miss it.

There are rooms of religious art.

It’s not a painting, just the view out this artistic window.

My wandering took me down these stairs from the balcony from which the picture above the chest was taken and through the doors in the picture below this one.

From here, the only way to go was back but no problem as there were branches of hallways seemingly everywhere.

These narrow hallways felt as much a part of the art as the displays seen in them.

So many curing hallways.

So many lovely arched doorways and beautiful wooden doors.

Walking down this hallway, at first I didn’t know what I was seeing.

Then to my surprise I was faced with two wonderful portraits of Taos Pueblo Indians including Mable Dodge Luhan’s husband Tony, by Ansel Adams, probably my favorite photographer,  who spent time in Taos with both Mable and Georgia O’Keeffe.  If you saw my post on her Abiqui house you may remember his phone number on a list of numbers beside her bed.  I love everything Adams has done.  These photographs are magnificent.

It was the perfect way to end my day at the museum.

I wish I had not saved the Millicent Rogers Museum to the end of my time in Taos.  One day is not enough as I could only take in so much before I was on an overload of awe.  There was definitely more to see.  My advice is to do it earlier in your stay so that if you are as impressed by it as I was, you can return perhaps again and again.