Elihu Burritt (Burt) Harwood (1855-1922), the son of Sanford and Kezia Dryer, was to play a major influence in the fledgling art community and cultural history of Taos, New Mexico. Burt's father Sanford was apprenticed to learn the trade of a saddler. By his death in February 1896, Sanford Harwood - having moved West and settled in Charles City, Iowa, in 1850 - had amassed thousands of acres of prime farmland in Iowa, where his son Burt would later establish two Academies of Art and Design.

In 1882, Harwood enrolled in the Art Students League in New York City. Two years later he enrolled in Paris' Académie Julian, where he studied under Gustave Boulanger, Jules Lefebvre, Amie Morot, Raphael Collin, and - for several months - the sculptor Mercier.

As soon as Burt came to Taos, he began painting "the typical subjects of that time in Taos: Indians standing in front of fireplaces, Indians seated on walls, Indian holding a drum, and so on." (David L Witt).

Burt died from suspected heart disease, in 1922, at the age of 67. About a year after his death, his wife Lucy converted their residence into the Harwood Foundation, which today is called the Harwood Museum of Art. The Harwood was established as a place where working artists, musicians, and writers could come and find lodging, solace, and camaraderie.

Today, the Harwood Museum of Art remains a central totem for displaying and supporting the success of Southwest artists, both past and present.