This Week in the West: Bert Geer Phillips, A Broken Wagon Wheel & Taos

🤠This Week in the West 🎙️ Episode 33: Bert Geer Phillips, A Broken Wagon Wheel & Taos

📢 Episode Summary: In this episode of This Week in The West, we share the remarkable story of Bert Geer Phillips, whose broken wagon wheel in 1898 led not to a setback, but to the founding of a new American art movement. Alongside fellow artist Ernest Blumenschein, Phillips intended to journey to Mexico for inspiration but ended up staying in Taos, New Mexico—a decision that transformed the course of Western art. Phillips immersed himself in the local culture, married into a respected family, and painted the people and landscape with romantic realism that honored both tradition and beauty.

Listeners will learn how Phillips helped found the influential Taos Society of Artists in 1915, advocating for both art and the environment throughout his life. His legacy lives on in Taos, which remains a thriving art community, and at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, which currently houses some of his work. The episode also highlights the ongoing celebration of Western creativity with the 53rd Annual Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:

• How a broken wagon wheel in 1898 led to the birth of the Taos art colony
• Why Bert Geer Phillips became a central figure in the Taos Society of Artists and Western realism
• How the legacy of Phillips and the early Taos artists continues today in modern Western art communities and exhibitions

👥 Behind the Scenes Host: Seth Spillman Producer: Chase Spivey Writer: Mike Koehler

🔗 Further research:

• A biography of Phillips from the Medicine Man Gallery: https://www.medicinemangallery.com/blogs/biographies/bert-geer-phillips-1868-1956-biography
• More history of the Taos Artist Colony: https://www.theartistsroad.net/articles/taossocietyofartists
• Information on visiting Taos, N.M.: https://taos.org/discover/taos-society-of-artists/

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