Ranch House with White Portal

Artist Oscar Edmund Berninghaus (American, 1874 - 1952)

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions30 x 34 1/2 inches (76.2 x 87.6 cm)
Frame: 36 3/4 × 41 × 2 inches (93.3 × 104.1 × 5.1 cm)

Credit LinePartial Bequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965 and Partial Gift of Nelda C. Stark, 1973

Object number31.24.61

ClassificationsPaintings

DescriptionHorizontal oil painting depicts a one story ranch house with a wooden awning across the front of the building. In the yard a human figure stands infront of a few horses. Tall mountains occupy the background behind the house, with a bit of sky with scattered clouds visible.

Label TextBerninghaus depicted a ranch house “on the road to Taos.” After a trip back to the East coast, the artist returned to Taos. A friend visited him and later reported that Berninghaus shared his feelings, “how happy he was to be home, that he would never leave Taos again, that he wanted to live here and no place else, wanted to die here, and no place else.” Sadly, Berninghaus died of a heart attack not long after expressing these feelings about Taos as his home. His many paintings of ranches, cabins, and pueblos remain as testaments to his love of home.

ProvenanceArtist; by inheritance to his wife Winifred Berninghaus, Taos, New Mexico; purchased October 22, 1953 by H.J. Lutcher Stark [1887-1965]; ½ interest bequeathed September 2, 1965 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation [1]; remaining ½ interest gifted June 15, 1973 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation by Nelda C. Stark [1909-1999]; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art | 1. Owned jointly by H.J. Lutcher Stark and Nelda C. Stark until his death at which point his ½ interest was bequeathed to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation.

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