Wild Herd in a Mountainous Landscape, Taos

Dorothy Eugenie Brett expressed an early interest in art during her childhood in England and went on to attend the Slade School of Art in London. In 1924, her friends D.H. and Frieda Lawrence invited her to join them on a trip to Taos, New Mexico. With the exception of trips to Mexico, New York and periodically to England, Brett was so taken by the lives of the Pueblo Indians there as well as the active Taos art colony that she remained in Taos for the rest of her life. Her exposure to this completely new environment led her to change her early more traditional painting style to one that incorporated primitive imagery and rhythmic patterning within boldly colored compositions. She said, "What I really like to paint is the spirit of the Race, the Life behind the Life of a people." (as quoted in P. Trenton et al, Independent Spirits: Women Painters of the American West 1890-1945, Los Angeles, California, 1995, p. 159) Wild Herd in a Mountainous Landscape, Taos is a wonderful example of the artistic approach that Brett developed in New Mexico and retains its original frame, designed by the artist.