Born Topeka, Aug. 6, 1897; died Albuquerque, NM, 1966. Painter, specialized in realist, figure & landscapes. Lithographer. Muralist, Teacher. At age 16 worked for G.M. Stone in Topeka before entering the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916.

Served as an army private in World War I. Studied at the Art Students League of New York beginning in 1919 where he was a pupil of K.H. Miller, George Bridgman, Maurice Stern, & Eugene Speicher.

Spent his summers with Andrew Dasburg in Woodstock, NY. From 1921-23 Adams studied in France & Italy painting landscapes that he exhibited in Topeka. Moved to Taos, NM in 1924 and became the youngest & last member of the Taos Society of Artists in 1926.

Began teaching at the Taos Field School of Art in 1929 then moved to Albuquerque in 1937 where he was artist-in-residence at the University of New Mexico until his retirement in 1963.

In 1937 he painted "Rural Free Delivery" in the Goodland Post Office. He also painted murals in Washington, DC, the University of New Mexico, & at Kansas State College, Manhattan. Primarily known for his scenes of Spanish culture and for his portraits.

Taos realist figure and landscape painter, muralist, lithographer, teacher

At 16, Adams studied with G.M. Stone in Topeka, Kansas and then entered the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916. After serving in the Army as a private in World War I, he studied at the Art Students League beginning 1919, the pupil of K H Miller, Bridgman, Sterne, and Speicher. Summers were with Dasburg in Woodstock. From 1921 to 1923, Adams studied in France and Italy, painting landscapes he exhibited in Topeka.

In 1924, Adams followed Dasburg's advice, settling in Taos with an introduction to Ufer. He became the youngest and last member of the Taos Society of Artists, but he was more than a duplicate of the original members' emphasis on the romantic Indian. Adams was contemporary realist, influenced by Dasburg and working in the tradition of Rivera and Orozco.

Technically conservative, Adams was nevertheless concerned with the daily lives of his agrarian neighbors. In 1929, Adams began teaching at the U of New Mexico in Taos. The dominant subjects in his work became the Spanish Americans and landscapes.

In 1938, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his work by 1950 was devoted to nudes, portraits, and still life, while his summer subjects in Taos were flowers, the Indians, and the rural Spanish Americans.

Source:
Peggy and Harold Samuels, Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West

Kenneth Adams (1897-1966)

Kenneth Adams was the last member to be added to the Taos Society of Artists before it disbanded in 1927, only a year after his induction. The artist stood as the meeting point between the old generation of Taos painters and the young, emerging modernists.

Originally from Topeka, Kansas, he moved to New York City where he studied at the Art Students' League in New York, where he befriended his instructor, Andrew Dasburg. Adams' connection to Dasburg, and later Walter Ufer, ultimately led to his relocation to Northern New Mexico.

Adams' subject matter included landscapes, portraits, nudes, and florals — most with a decidedly more modern interpretation than his peers in Taos were doing.

During WWII, Adams moved to Albuquerque where he taught at the University of New Mexico and Sandia School. Recognition for his artistic contribution came near the end of his life, when he was elected an academician of the National Academy of Design in 1961. He was also honored with a retrospective of his work at the University of New Mexico in 1964, just two years before his passing.

Kenneth Miller Adams was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1897. Studying with George Melville Stone in Topeka, Adams went on to study at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York before traveling to Italy and France for further instruction. He summered in Woodstock, NY with Andrew Dasburg, painting the landscape and developing his skills as a modernist.

In 1924, Adams moved to Taos to be with Dasburg and Walter Ufer. He would be the last and youngest member of the Taos Society of Artists, and perhaps the most dedicated modernist of them all. He was also one of the most emotionally connected to the Taos Indians, teaching at the University of New Mexico, Taos.

In 1938 he moved to Albuquerque during the winters, where he worked on nudes, portraits and still life, returning to Taos in the summer to focus on Indian subjects. He taught at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, as well, eventually earning a tenured professorship and a membership to the National Academy of Design.

He died in 1966.

Kenneth Adams is best remembered as the last and youngest member of the Taos society of artists. Without roots in the 19th century classicism, Adams was more free to explore the contemporary methods of representation.

Following studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York, Adams, strongly influenced by Cezanne's Cubist principles, would influence the New Mexico art scene for decades.

After a dozen years in Taos, Adams moved to Albuquerque in 1938, where he taught at the University of New Mexico for the next 25 years. A testament to his vision and recognition outside the Southwest was his election to the National Academy of Design in New York in 1961.

Painter Kenneth Adams (1897-1963) arrived on the Taos art scene in 1924, at the urging of his former instructor Andrew Dasburg. Although Adams had been born and raised less than 700 miles away in Topeka, Kansas, his journey to the Southwest had been years - and countries - in the making.

Earlier in his 20s, Adams had embarked on the Midwesterner’s equivalent of a Grand Tour: Chicago, then New York City, and finally, Italy and France. From these sojourns, the artist had absorbed all the lessons in light, color, and form that renowned teachers and rolling countrysides could offer.

Now, thanks to Dasburg’s invitation, Adams found he could stop traveling; he had finished honing his craft and found his muse. New Mexico - its people and its land - would be an infinite source of inspiration.

Adam’s painterly devotion soon impressed the prestigious Taos Society of Artists, which invited him to join as its youngest member. And, although the Society eventually disbanded, Adams spent the rest of his life living out its Regionalist ambition: to record New Mexico’s essence through art.

Kenneth Adams Sources
Bellmore, Audra, and Sever Bordeianu. “Youth, Science, and the Future: Three Sets of New Deal Era Murals at the University of New Mexico.” Art Documentation: Bulletin of the Art Libraries Society of North America 32, no. 1 (April 2013): 71–86. doi:10.1086/669990.

Romancito, Rick. "A Life Made Vivid Through Art: Kenneth Adams Honored as Member of Taos Society of Artists." The Taos News, September 18, 1997.

Witt, David L. "Parallel Lives: Andrew Dasburg, Kenneth Adams, Ward Lockwood and the Modern Tradition, Selections from the University's Collection." Resource Library Magazine, December 2000.