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Significantly, Howard Schleeter was the only Southwestern artist to be included in the prestigious Guggenheim Museum young painter’s exhibition in 1954. He subsequently painted and taught art here in New Mexico for the next 20-plus years until quite literally the day he died. When later in life he became incapacitated with Parkinson’s disease in his right painting hand, he taught himself to paint with his left hand and when that too became unusable he continued painting with brushes clenched in his teeth. His devotion to his art was ferocious, obsessive, never ending.

This painting is Howard Schleeter at the height of his formidable powers. It is on its surface level a beautiful, stylized abstract snapshot view of the small city of Santa Fe, New Mexico seemingly peacefully and quietly nestled at the foot of and against the striking background of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range. To one familiar with Santa Fe, numerous local landmarks are quite identifiable, the old Cathedral in the painting’s center, the Plaza and other various churches and buildings, the ever-present brilliant sun or moon overhead. However, there is another, far deeper reality lurking beneath the painting’s beautifully-textured and finely presented outer surface and that dark reality is referenced by the artist’s carefully chosen somewhat mysterious title “Thematic Land”.

“Thematic Land” 1959

A striking Modernist oil painting of Santa Fe,

New Mexico by Howard B. Schleeter

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This is an extraordinary and very powerful painting by one of the most unique and interesting artists ever to live

and work in New Mexico. Howard Behling Schleeter (1903-1976) was a brilliantly talented artist and a decidedly odd duck of a human being. He lived only to paint as he famously often said and the surroundings, amenities, comforts

and routines of everyday human life held no particular appeal or joy for him.

Schleeter moved to New Mexico from his hometown of Buffalo, New York in 1929 at the age of 26 to pursue his art.

He worked for the WPA and Federal Arts Projects painting murals from 1936-1942 and made enough to scrape by.

He lived simply in a tent, ate sparingly, dressed in castaway second hand clothes and traded his art work for food and basic necessities. He dug ditches, made jewelry and taught art classes to make ends meet and purchase art supplies, but boy, could he and did he ever paint!

What are the themes here in this land? The most predominant themes in Santa Fe’s long and ancient history as detailed below are those violent themes of Colonial conquest, armed conflict, slavery, religious oppression, blood, death, revolt, racial animosity and greed, an always uneasy and deadly combination played out here over four-plus centuries plus (and still being played out here today) against a backdrop of spectacular, almost overwhelming natural physical beauty. The ancient, blood-soaked story of The Royal City of The Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi at the foot of the towering Blood of Christ mountains is appropriately, powerfully and accurately presented, prominently rendered here in varying deeply-saturated shades of blood red color, “El Sangre de Cristo”. It is at once an extraordinary historical eyeful and a serious artistic poke in the eye.

Howard B. Schleeter’s work has been exhibited at numerous prominent American museums including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Dallas Museum of Art and the M.H. De Young Museum in San Francisco.

The painting is done in carefully layered, textured and incised oil paints on a Masonite panel and it measures 18" in height and is 24" in width. It has recently been beautifully and most appropriately framed in an 18K white gold-gilded Modernist style frame by Goldleaf Framemakers, Santa Fe’s premier art framers. The framed dimensions are 19 1/2" in height by 25 1/4" in width. The painting is in thoroughly excellent original condition and particularly so for its now 67 years of age. A thorough examination under Ultraviolet light reveals no restoration or overpainting in evidence anywhere on the piece. The painting is properly signed and dated "H.B. Schleeter, ’59" at the lower left. The painting is also comprehensively titled, signed again, numbered and described in the artist’s hand on a special hand-made painted label as seen below on the painting’s verso as was Schleeter’s regular custom.

“Thematic Land” is an exceptional masterwork by a modern-day master at the height of his abilities;

a beautiful, masterful portrayal and an accurate historic allegory and socio-political commentary of the

highest order. It is a true, unique and deeply meaningful New Mexico art treasure.

Price available upon request

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At left, a modern-day view of Santa Fe at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Left photo source and © Facebook

A Brief Timeline of Santa Fe History

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900 A.D. to 1540 A.D. The Santa Fe area is occupied by various

Native American Tewa Indian Pueblo people.

1540-41 Spanish Conquistador, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his soldiers reach New Mexico, winter in the Rio Grande Valley near present-day Bernalillo, 40 miles south of Santa Fe and claim the territory of Nuevo Mexico for Spain. Fights the Tiguex Pueblo wars with local Tiguex Pueblo Indians. Fails to find the legendary Seven Cities of Gold and returns to Spain.

1598 Spanish Conquistadores and settlers under Juan de Onate invade and occupy New Mexico by force of arms. The colonial capital of the new Spanish province of “Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico” is established at San Juan Pueblo, 30 miles north of Santa Fe.

1599 Battle of Acoma Pueblo. Onate’s Conquistadors massacre and maim hundreds of Acoma Pueblo Indians

who are resisting Spanish rule and oppression.  

1610 Establishment of La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis (The Royal City of The Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi.)

1680 The Great Pueblo Revolt. The New Mexico Indian Pueblos rise up against their Spanish oppressors killing hundreds

and driving them out of New Mexico down to Ciudad Juarez.

1692 The Spanish Conquistadors return to New Mexico in The Reconquest led by Don Diego de Vargas.

70 leaders of The Pueblo Revolt are publicly executed on the Santa Fe Plaza.

1821 The Santa Fe Trail opens, connecting Santa Fe overland to Saint Louis, Missouri.

1824 The Constitution of Mexico establishes Santa Fe as the capital of the Mexican Territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico.

1836 The new Republic of Texas claims all land in the territory east of the Rio Grande river including Santa Fe;

the claim is never recognized by The Mexican Government.

1841 The Texas Santa Fe Expedition fails to capture Santa Fe or any part of the territory.

1846 Early in the Mexican-American War, American army general, Stephen Watts Kearny, takes Santa Fe

and raises the American flag over the Plaza.

1850 New Mexico is claimed by the United States Government as a territory of which Santa Fe

is made the capital city by the following year.

1862 The major Civil War Battle of The Glorieta Pass fought in the Sangre de Cristo mountains some 20 miles

southeast of Santa Fe ends the Confederacy’s attempt to conquer territory in the American Southwest.

1912 New Mexico becomes the 47th American state, and Santa Fe becomes the new state's capitol.

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At left, a present day view of the Santa Fe Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis. At right, Howard Schleeter's 1959 stylized abstract depiction of the Cathedral.

Left photo source and © All Seasons Lodging