Original Painting “Summer Pasture” [R]

Jackson Morley Hensley is a native New Mexican, having been born in Portales.  After a brief stint in New York City from 1959 to 1965, where he studied at the National Academy of Design, he returned to Taos, New Mexico, where he now lives and operates the Hensley Art Gallery.

The artist is a landscapist but does not believe in producing photographically accurate paintings.  He stated that if that is what one wanted, then one should use a camera.  The subjects of Hensley's images vary widely, but there is one element that appears in almost all of them. If you look closely and long enough, you will see something in the painting that suggests a kind of doorway, a secret passage to another world, the inner world of the soul. Hensley himself notes that while his paintings are outwardly about landscapes or people, they are really about his own thoughts and perceptions, his own view of the world.

Tradition, originality and integrity have been the cornerstone of Hensley's high standards in art. Ideology has kept him focused on the quality of his work. His own life and times are what he paints. Thoughts are put down in visual images, altering as life changes with each new day. Reflecting moments, a way of life, the very struggles that affect the work itself and the goodness of man and nature are his artistic statement; because of these qualities his art has become timeless and enduring. These Taos years were very good for Jackson; his self-isolation served him well in creating works of unsurpassed beauty and vitality.

The painting is signed in lower right but not dated.  It has been framed using five layers of matboard and a wood gold-tone frame.  The framing is possibly original to the painting. 

Condition:  appears to be in original condition but has not been examined out of the frame.

Provenance: from an art collector in Albuquerque

References:  the biographical information above has been excerpted from the Hensley Art Gallery website.