Original Oil Painting “Untitled—Southwestern Landscape” [R]

Carl Redin had the distinguished honor of being recognized as one of Albuquerque's first resident artists. He had arrived in 1916 to attend to his bout with tuberculosis. He fell in love with Albuquerque and spent all but the last four years of his life there. A Denver newspaper article in 1927 referred to Albuquerque as a "one-artist town," referring, of course, to Redin.

Redin painted New Mexico landscape scenes, but rarely painted figures. He concentrated on seasonal changes and the variations in light at different times of day. It was his depictions of characteristic New Mexico light, at sunset or in storm, that viewers responded to most strongly in his work.

This landscape painting by Redin is an excellent representation of his best work in landscape depiction. The characteristic reds and purples of his palette produce a nostalgic quality, one of instant recognition and association that calls up the viewer's familiarity with the scenes.

If Redin is not as well known as some other New Mexico artists, it is not because of the quality of his work, but partly because he was not associated with a group such as the Taos Founders in Taos or the Cinco Pintores in Santa Fe, and because he chose to work in a town that lacked the artistic reputation of Taos and Santa Fe, and because he died at the quite young age of 52, after leaving Albuquerque four years earlier.

Carl Redin shared the Albuquerque artist spotlight with Nils Hogner, Ben Turner, and Carl Von Hassler. The four undoubtedly knew and associated with each other, but Redin is the one who continued working in Albuquerque longest and who most successfully marketed his paintings.

The Albuquerque Museum sponsored a one-man exhibit of Redin's work in 1984-1985. This in itself illustrates the museum's opinion of his work, as the museum has never exhibited the works of the other three artists as one-man shows.