Victor Higgins, (1884-1949)

White Horse 16 1/4 x 20in framed 22 3/4 x 26 1/2in

White Horse
signed 'Victor Higgins' (lower right)
oil on canvas
16 1/4 x 20in
framed 22 3/4 x 26 1/2in

Provenance
Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, no. C-16153.
Sale, Santa Fe Art Auction, Santa Fe, November 12, 2011, lot 121.
Acquired by the present owner from the above.

Victor Higgins answered the question of why Taos in New Mexico Magazine in 1932: "Because of the light, there is the best light here to be found anywhere. There is more color in the landscape and the people than elsewhere." Joining the Taos Society of Artists in 1917, Higgins remained a member through its eventual disbandment in 1927. During his time in Taos, Higgins' palette broadened from darker colors to include a broad variety of tones and colors which he would use to explore the New Mexico light. Higgins at times reduced his compositions in complexity to emphasize color and texture.

In the present lot Higgins situates two horses almost at the center of the composition with adobe structures arching over and around them. White Horse investigates the results of a reductive depiction of these horses and structures. The adobes are rounded with slanting walls and roofs are man-made organic elements within and indeed part and parcel of Higgins landscape. The white horse at center has a dark companion (unmentioned in the title) immediately behind it as if a shadow. Equally, the adobes have their own shadow in the form of the mountains in the distance.

Higgins' palette in White Horse is highly nuanced with variations in creamy tones conveying the adobes. He then uses cooler shades of blue and green in the fence, doors, windows. A subtle rose tint adobe wall is found on the right edge only slightly different from the background color. This is echoed by an umber roof on the left edge. Thus White Horse elegantly meets Higgins' stated requirement for a modern painter, to "design through color harmonies". That being said, these understated tones and his straightforward composition really focus the observer's attention on the impressive and bold brushwork and impasto. Whatever the horses, adobe walls, fences, and the ground lack in color they more than compensate with texture. The artist's loaded brush is always present. The sky has the same rich surface treatment as the posts in the foreground lower left. White Horse illustrates the power of restraint in Higgins mature artistic vision.