Mirror image: Rare self-portrait of Taos Society of Artists member, Catharine Carter Critcher, on view at Couse-Sharp Historic Site

A rare and historically significant self-portrait by Catharine Carter Critcher is now on view at the Couse-Sharp Historic Site in Taos.

“We made a whole lot of phone calls and reached out to friends of the site, and said, ‘Hey you guys, this is a really important opportunity,’” said Davison Koenig, executive director and curator of Couse-Sharp Historic Site. “Catharine is the only female member of the Taos Society of Artists. She probably had the fewest Taos paintings of any of the Taos Society of Artists. So it makes her work very desirable and sought after.”

Couse-Sharp Historic Site staff made an interesting discovery when hanging the portrait.

“Now that it’s in strong light, we see something we never noticed in photos and is not in any of the information about the painting that we’ve found,” said Regina Scherffius, director of operations and communication at the Couse-Sharp Historic Site. “There’s a faint figure standing immediately behind Catharine, apparently back to back. Is it a shadow? A spirit? It will be a great conversation to have with those who come to view the painting.”

The team is theorizing what the “ghost figure” represents, according to Koenig.

“What’s the symbolism there, because it’s clearly intentional, and it was hard to see in the light in the previous photographs,” he explained. “But once you have it on the wall, properly lit, you go, ‘Wait a second. Is that a mirror? No, it’s not a mirror. Is it someone standing behind her? If so, why?’ (It is) kind of interesting, (we) don’t know.”

There is not much known about the painting, and Koenig and his staff want to learn more.

“The supposition is that this was probably painted during her year studying in Paris because she’s really young in the portrait,” he said. “And that was and still is a classic in art school, that students are always asked to do a portrait of themselves. That’s often a rite of passage of art school. So that’s our guess.”

It is “really tough” to put an exact date on when the portrait was painted, according to Koenig.

“We really didn’t know about this painting until it came up for auction,” he said. “It’s very exciting for us, because at the moment, this is the only known self-portrait of Catharine Critcher.”

The portrait was previously in a private collection in New York. The purchase was made possible through the generosity of 14 donors. The work was purchased through the Santa Fe Art Auction on Nov. 8. The piece sold for about $30,000 at auction, according to Koenig.

Critcher (1868–1964) was an esteemed portraitist, landscape painter and teacher whose contributions to American art continue to gain recognition, according to a Couse-Sharp Historic Site news release. Critcher was the only woman accepted in to the Taos Society of Artists during its active years between 1915 and 1927.

“Critcher challenged conventions and opened doors for women in the arts,” according to the news release. “This self-portrait provides an intimate and rare glimpse into the artist’s perspective and character, revealing the strength, poise and determination that marked her career.”

The mission of the Couse-Sharp Historic Site is to focus on the underrepresented artists of Taos, particularly female artists, according to Koenig.

“This has largely been a male dominated world for a very long time and often they didn’t get the same attention,” he explained. “We’re really excited because it enables us to immediately put it on display and have her presence in the museum at the site and not be overshadowed by the many Anglo men.”

The Couse-Sharp Historic Site recently lost one of its matriarchs, co-founder Virginia Couse Leavitt, who died on Nov. 26 at age 92.

Couse Leavitt was the principal scholar on the work of her grandfather, Eanger Irving Couse, the first president of the Taos Society of Artists, according to a Couse-Sharp Historic Site news release. Along with her late husband, Ernest Leavitt, she was the driving force behind preserving the archive, home and studio of Couse along with the property of neighbor Joseph Henry Sharp, also one of the original six members of the Taos Society of Artists.