Alfred Morang taught half of the Santa Fe artists how to paint, and the other half how to see.
Alfred Morang (1901-1958) was a polymath who played the violin, wrote short stories that were published in national magazines, and painted. He moved to Sant Fe in the late 1930's and opened an art school, had a local radio show, and held regular art centered salons at his home. He frequented Claude’s Bar, the rowdy saloon on Canyon Road that served as a meeting place for fellow artists, politicians, and ladies of the evening.
Many of Morang’s paintings are like a visual diary of Santa Fe in the 1940’s and 1950’s and have a raw sense that echo the city’s spirit at that time. Technically his paintings are informed by impressionism and post-impressionism, many painted thickly with a palette knife. The best of his works can rival those of the French masters he admired.