08.20.21 Ralph Meyers

Ralph Meyers, A Taos Character

By Rebekah Powers | August 2021

At the center of the vibrant cultural mix of the Taos Art Colony, in what may have been its most vibrant phase, there stood one man who would become famous for his role in Taos’s diverse history. Indians, Spanish, Anglos and Europeans alike sought out Ralph Meyers (1885-1948). The first white man to establish trade with Taos Pueblo, he was also the mountain guide, and even the builder and outfitter for members of the Taos Society of Artists. Fluent with all the cultures of Taos, her absorbed cultural traditions of woodcarving, silver smithing, beading, weaving and leather working from his close contact with the native and Hispanic people.

Then perhaps it would come as no surprise that even with no formal training and only a 3rd grade education, Ralph watched the academically trained artists from the eastern U.S., from Europe and Russia and taught himself to paint with such success that Leon Gaspard, the renowned Russian artist called him “one of the finest colorists in Taos.”

Meyers was at heart an outdoorsman and was stationed as a Fire Service Guard in 1910 at Blue Lake, sacred to the Taos Puebloans as the source of the water that irrigates the land.. His awe and reverence for the spiritual essence of the mountains became the source of his inspiration to paint and he began to pack paints and boards with his camping gear wherever he went.

One such adventure in 1911 involved Meyers and Candido Romero who traveled by buggy to visit Chief Little Wolf of the Cheyenne in Oklahoma. They were accompanied by a mongrel dog named Weanchee who suffered from buggy sickness so he ran alongside the cart instead of riding in it. The dog’s pads became so raw that Meyers made him two pairs of moccasins to help him endure the trip. The three lived with Cheyenne friends throughout that winter.

The story of Ralph Meyers is a compelling tale of a self-taught, self- reliant outsider whose life and vision helped shape the country’s understanding of the American West, and the world’s appreciation for American art. It was said of his work, “He’s perhaps the only one here who can paint what can’t be seen.”

Arguably, the clearest picture of Meyers comes not from the repeated biographies but from his fictionalized portrayal as the odd Anglo trader, Rodolfo Byers, in novelist Frank Water’s Taos tale, The Man Who Killed the Deer.

Another of Meyers’ close friends was Taos artist Joseph Sharp, who intended Ralph to be an advisor on the disposition of his estate upon his death. However, it was Sharp who had the solemn task of collecting Meyers’ son Ouray from the movie theater to tell him of his father’s death in 1948.

D.H. Laurence quoted Ralph as saying, “Everything is a dream…damn beautiful but intangible…everything in life is disintegrating, dissociating, fading…lovely, lovely.”

Chimayo Trading Del Norte is currently showing the very collectible, extremely evocative paintings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Meyers, a legend and true Taos character. Get a glimpse into the past through his eyes in our expanded gallery space in Ranchos de Taos or on our website.

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Ranchos de Taos, NM 87557

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