Oscar Berninghaus

Born in St. Louis, Oscar Berninghaus displayed artistic talent early on, always carrying a sketch book, drawing his surroundings and working with watercolors.  Leaving formal education at an early age, he began working for a lithography company at the age of sixteen.

Berninghaus, deciding to pursue further art education, attended night classes at the School of Fine Arts in St. Louis, an experience which led him to receive a commission from the Denver & Rio Grand Railroad.  Heading west, painting watercolor depictions of the mountains, villages and native peoples for advertising purposes in order to attract Easterners to travel west, he ended up visiting Taos New Mexico for the first time in 1899.  The artist, taken with Taos' special light, the big sky and the people, vowed to return for a longer stay. He realized at that point he would have to master oil paints in order to capture the complexity of the landscape and the majesty of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Heading back to St. Louis to hone his craft in 1900, the artist had his first one man show and displayed mostly works from this first trip to Taos, becoming know as a painter of the frontier and the American Indian.  That same year, Berninghaus returned to Taos which he continued to do every summer for the next twenty five years.  One of the founding members of the Taos Society of Artists (TSA) in 1915, his artwork, along with the group's, travelled around the country, quickly garnering acclaim.

In 1925, at the age of 51, Berninghaus moved to Taos permanently, allowing him to paint year round the Taos scenes he became most know for.  Berninghaus continued to paint Taos Pueblo people and adobes in the landscape, becoming known for his unmistakable stylized depiction of the horse with our without rider.  One of the few original members of the TSA, Berninghaus witnessed a major transition of art in Taos, with the influx of Modern Artists in the mid to late 1940s. He knew and respected many of these Modern Artists, and was influenced by their work. He remained in Taos until his passing in 1952.