Spent an enjoyable Saturday afternoon in old town Albuquerque, at the city's Museum of Art and History, with a very pleasant and accommodating local host. We were fortunate enough to catch the exhibits during a time when a live musical trio was playing Spanish ballads depicting the colorful personalities and history of the area.
The building, itself, is an impressive structure of contemporary design, that houses approximately 7000 works of art focusing on the southwest. These include Native American jewelry, tapestries, miscellaneous folk art forms, ceramics, war memorabilia, and paintings.
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The above painting by Delmas Howe, entitled The Three Graces, is a prelude to a series the artist did called Rodeo Pantheon. The artist proposed that the cowboy was the only authentically american equivalent to the Greek gods of antiquity because their hyper-masculinity had been elevated to a mythic level in the American mentality. The above depiction of three middle-aged farmers or ranch hands allegedly also speaks to the issues of male bonding and gender expectations in our culture.
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San Felipe de Neri Catholic church.
