Carlsbad #1, The Queen’s Chamber, d. 1924, oil on canvas, 30 1⁄4 x 40 1/8 inches
3. Will Shuster (1893–1969) "Carlsbad #1, The Queen’s Chamber," d.1924, oil on canvas, 30 1⁄4 x 40 1/8 inches
December 3, 2020
Will Shuster (1893–1969)
December 3, 2020
“We climbed down the ladders ourselves and prowled around in the dark, each carrying two lanterns and a little pack with food, drawing materials, and we put the lanterns off in the formations and worked by the light of another one ... and each night we’d come out and swear that we’d never go down there again” - Will Shuster
In 1924, Shuster, along with Mruk, was one of the first artists to paint Carlsbad Caverns around the time a survey of the cave system was being conducted by the National Geographic Society, years before the caverns would be designated a national park. He described the experience of working in Carlsbad to Loomis. “We climbed down the ladders ourselves and prowled around in the dark, each carrying two lanterns and a little pack with food, drawing materials, and we put the lanterns off in the formations and worked by the light of another one ... and each night we’d come out and swear that we’d never go down there again. It was rugged, like rough underground mountain climbing.” He returned again to Carlsbad some years later under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration for a series of large-scale murals, apparently no longer extant (to the ire, one surmises, of La Farge’s ghost). During one foray into the caverns, someone inadvertently turned out the lights. “Well what happened is this Irishman, a fine fella, who was acting as my guide, I was working in the Queens Palace and he said, ‘Shus, would you mind if I went and explored up here, there is a little place I haven’t been in,’ ” Shuster told Loomis. “I said, ‘No, go ahead.’ And I was working there. He had gone. All of a sudden the lights went out. I was in total darkness.” He sat patiently until the guide returned with a flashlight. -- Michael Abatemarco, The Santa Fe, New Mexican, Sep 1, 2017
Will Shuster (1893–1969) Carlsbad #1, The Queen’s Chamber, d. 1924, oil on canvas, 30 1⁄4 x 40 1/8 inches
Clouds and Desert Landscape, d. 1960, pastel on “Whatman” paper, 14 1/2 x 20 5/8 inches, NP66-557
The Rio Grande at the Old Buckman Bridge, d. 1930, graphite, pen and ink on paper, 7 x 9 inches, NP66-182
Puye Cliff Ruins and Ladder
Upper image, intaglio print (etching) on paper
5-3/4 x 6-5/8 inches
Lower image, ink on paper
5-3/4 x 6-5/8 inches
NP66-65 (335-B)
Seining for Bait, Treasure Island – Florida, d. 1959, pastel on paper, 10 3/8 x 13 7/8 inches, NP66-569
