Legacy in Line: The Art of Gene Kloss is a collaborative effort of Couse-Sharp Historic Site and the Harwood Museum of Art, celebrating the extraordinary career of Gene Kloss and her contributions to American printmaking. The dual exhibitions showcase works generously donated by Joy and Frank Purcell, whose philanthropy has enriched both institutions’ collections and provides a rare opportunity for the community to experience Kloss’s masterly interpretations of the New Mexico landscape.

Public opening receptions will be held 5-7 p.m. on April 4 at both Couse-Sharp Historic Site and the Harwood Museum of Art.

Alice Geneva “Gene” Kloss first arrived in Taos in 1925 while on her honeymoon, traveling the Southwest with her new husband, Phillips Kloss, and her 60-pound etching press. This trip would mark a decisive point of Kloss’ life and artistic career. The beauty and power of New Mexico captured her heart and eye. Looking back on this time, Gene later wrote: “I was a New Mexican from then on.” Born in Oakland, California, in 1903, Kloss attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied with Perham Nahl. Amazed by the first print she pulled from the press, Nahl predicted she would be an etcher. Kloss spent two more years of study at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and the California College of the Arts in Oakland.

Kloss worked predominantly in three media—etching, oil, and watercolor—but is best known for her prints of New Mexico. The body of her works has a consistent harmony in its balanced concern for the subject and for abstract principles of design. “I want the finished print to enable the viewer to see the design, the subject matter, from across the room, at arm’s length or under a magnifying glass—also upside-down for satisfactory abstract design.” Working from memory and quick sketches, Kloss produced remarkable images of life in Taos and the surrounding areas. Her work captures moments of Pueblo ceremonials, secret Penitente pilgrimages, quiet vistas, and daily life, cementing her memories as lasting images.

Producing more than 600 etchings over her lifetime, and an estimated 18,000 editioned prints, Kloss’s prolific oeuvre demonstrates her devotion and care not only for a complex medium, but also for the lives and stories of northern New Mexico. Art News wrote, “Gene Kloss is one of our most sensitive and sympathetic interpreters of the Southwest.” One critic called her a “landscape mythic,” another a “portrait psychologist.”

Kloss was a prolific writer, and CSHS is the repository for many original letters, donated by the Purcells and others. Exhibiting them raises awareness of the collecting scope of The Lunder Research Center, which includes archival materials documenting the early artists of the area, particularly female or Indigenous. Donations of archives and objects help us tell a nuanced story of the dynamic artist community of Taos.