Southwestern Light

A new exhibition at the Taos Art Museum at Fechin House examines the work of Doel Reed

May 24-August 28

Doel Reed (1894-1985) was chair of the department of art at Oklahoma State University for nearly 30 years. A painter and a print maker, he retired to Talpa, outside Taos, New Mexico, in 1959 where he concentrated on perfecting the aquatint printing process. His home and studio in Talpa now houses the Doel Reed Center of OSU.

He wrote, “I have been in the Southwest for so many years that I feel definitely part of the region. The feeling of endless space of the great plains, the high mountains, the unlimited sky and clouds have been a great source of inspiration for the development of my own style which might not have materialized elsewhere.”Doel Reed (1894-1985), Sun Patterns, Dark Canyon, 1979. Aquatint and etching on paper, 7 7⁄8 x 17½ in. Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Stillwater, OK, DRC 2011.015.001.

He became interested in aquatints when he saw the work of Francisco Goya (1746-1828), who did several series of etchings with haunting shadows created by aquatint. Aquatint employs the use of rosins in the printmaking process to create atmospheric effects and veils of tone suggestive of the smoothness of water.Doel Reed (1894-1985), Black Bear Creek Country, 1936. Oil on canvas, 30 x 34 in. Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Stillwater, OK. Gift from Janis and Roy Coffee Jr. in honor of Ann and Burns Hargis, DRC 2020.002.001.

Rebecca Brienen, chair of art and professor of art history at OSU, recalls, “I still remember my initial encounter with Reed’s studio—it was a little dusty but nonetheless nearly untouched, with papers and Reed’s eyeglasses still laid out on his desk, as if the artist would soon return. As I learned more about Doel Reed and his contributions to American art, it became clear that he was overdue for a new scholarship and an exhibition.”Doel Reed making an aquatint, 1965. Courtesy Taos Art Museum at Fechin House.

Doel Reed (1894-1985), Evening Storm, 1949. Etching and aquatint on paper, 7½ x 10 13⁄16 in. Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Stillwater, OK. Gift of Bob Parks, DRC 07-0019.

Sun Patterns – Dark Canyon: The Paintings and Aquatints of Doel Reed opened at OSU last year and will be shown at Taos Art Museum at Fechin House in Taos, May 24 through August 28. The museum notes, “Included in the exhibition are over 60 works of art by Doel Reed and his contemporaries. The exhibition also features personal items such as Reed’s diary from World War I, and examples of his aquatint plates.” Reed’s sensuous and colorful landscape paintings will be a surprise for people more familiar with his somber aquatints and linear mixed media drawings.

His paintings and aquatints often contain strong geometry recalling the mountains and the architecture of the region. The title piece for the exhibition, Sun Patterns, Dark Canyon, 1979, is an aquatint and etching that demonstrates his mastery of the medium with its geometric patterns and contrasts of light and dark. Black Bear Creek Country, 1936, is an earlier, modernist approach to the landscape with its rounded, softened forms. —