Original Santa Fe Painting titled “Poplar Gold” by Robert Daughters [R]

This oil painting, titled “Poplar Gold,” was created by New Mexico artist Robert Daughters.  With this piece, Daughters looks at the Northern New Mexico landscape through a narrow lens, focusing on a group of Poplar trees.  Autumn leaves glow bright yellow beneath a clear, almost white sky.  Touches of green and brown add depth and dimension to the tall, thin trees.  Behind the trees, blues and purples form a hill.  The hill includes barely noticeable touches of yellow, suggesting that the trees in the foreground are not alone in their transitional state.  Behind that hill, a mountain—soft blue and gray, suggesting distance—rises into the clear sky.  With “Poplar Gold,” Robert Daughters successfully pays tribute to the natural wonders of the Southwest.

The painting is signed R. Daughters in lower right.  It is framed in an elaborately carved frame under a fabric mat.  It is identical in size to “Poplar Sunset” and we suggest the two pieces be considered as a pair.

Robert Daughters (1929-2013) was raised in St. Joseph, Missouri. After graduation from high school and three years in the military, he worked as a Curator of Display at the St. Joseph Museum of Natural History while attending the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design.  During a 1953 visit to Taos, New Mexico, Daughters discovered the beauty of the Southwest. He and his family made their move to Santa Fe in 1970, then to Taos in 1972.  Rather than describe himself as an impressionist or expressionist, Daughters says he is a "composist"—his term for an artist who creates paintings with color harmony, the contrast of light and dark values and, above all, structure. His work is created from photographs, charcoal sketches and small plein air oil studies. The emphasis is on structure, an orderly arrangement of shapes, tones and atmospheric effect.  Daughters received many well-deserved awards and accolades during his career. Today, he is regarded as a significant and influential figure in the world of Southwestern art.

Condition: this Original Santa Fe Painting titled "Poplar Gold" by Robert Daughters is in excellent condition

Recommended Reading: ROBERT DAUGHTERS - After the Formative Years, Munson Publishing, Santa Fe, 2007

Relative Links: Taos New Mexico, Santa Fe, Western Art, Robert Daughters, Western Painter