The Art of New Mexico: How the West Is One

Using the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., curator Traugott explores the rich and varied history of art in New Mexico and its place in the national canon. Since its founding in 1917, the museum's leadership has been deliberate in its curatorial choices and generous in its documentary urges, and so Traugott has a great deal to work with, from debates about architecture and interior design to decisions on the nature of each round of acquisitions, offering a surprisingly complete record of the institution's growth and development. As such, it should find a broad audience: art lovers will relish the ample plates explained in straightforward, concise prose; art historians will appreciate the wealth of details about artists, movements and the museum; and history buffs will appreciate the story of the region as revealed through its art. As the title suggests, Traugott aims to find the unity in New Mexico's diverse artistic heritage, which at times results in generalizations and backpedaling, especially in sometimes-breezy treatment of colonialism. Readers seeking a more critical consideration of the political issues involved (U.S. treatment of Native Americans and Mexicans, the stereotyped image of the ""native"") should look elsewhere; those who come for the art won't be disappointed.