186292

M. CIRICI "SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS" ORIGINAL PHOTO

Currency:USD Category:Jewelry Start Price:10.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 10,000.00 USD
M. CIRICI  SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS  ORIGINAL PHOTO
Mireya Cirici Signed "San Francisco de Asis" Original Photograph. Signed "Mireya Cirici '02".

SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS
Ranchos de Taos, NM

Located where the Camino Alto (High Road) descends upon the Rio Grande valley, the mission of Saint Francis of Assissi is one of the most beautiful adobe buildings in the Southwest. It is also one of the most painted and photographed buildings in America.

The Spaniards had farmed this area since the 1700's and established a permanent settlement in 1813, the church being completed two years later. The beauty of the Taos landscape and the aliveness of the Pueblo and Hispanic cultures soon attracted to the area the first artists and at the turn of the century (1898) Taos became a famous art colony. Since then countless artists and writers have moved or traveled there, and all of them have been challenged by the graceful, sculptural forms of the Ranchos de Taos Church. Its elegant bell towers and its massive buttresses which seem to emerge from the earth have inspired some of the most famous visual images of the 20* century. Georgia O'Keeffe painted the church many times;

Paul Strand, Ansel Adams and Laura Gilpin left very sensitive and powerful photographs, capturing the forms and texture of the beautiful adobe church glowing in light.

Today the Ranchos de Taos church is a vibrant catholic community. Every year at the beginning of June the church closes for two weeks and the whole community participates in El Enjare, donating time and labor to restore the adobe walls with fresh coats of mud.

MIREYA CIRICI is a painter and photographer whose work expresses her passion for nature, traveling and the connection between people and place. Her artistic sensitivity developed while growing up in Spain immersed in the vibrant light and rich colors of the Mediterranean landscape.

She has traveled around the world and has taught Art and Art history in museums, universities and as an artist-in-residence in public schools. Her photographs of Northern New Mexico capture the beauty and the softness of the old adobe architecture as a living form, made of and in harmony with the Earth. She also explores the subtle or dramatic changes of light and color as the landscape is transformed with every season. She moved to Santa Fe in 1995.
Size: 9.5 X 7.5". 17 3/8 X 14 3/8" Frame.
Condition: Very fine. See images.