Oscar Edmund Berninghaus (1874–1952)

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, of German immigrant parents, Oscar Berninghaus left school at age sixteen to take a job at a lithography company, where he learned the skills of printing, engraving, lithography, color separation, and poster art. He had grown up in a family that sold lithographs for a living and had spent many hours studying those images closely. By the time Berninghaus was twelve, he was adept at drawing with pen and ink and painting with watercolors. His only formal art training was from night classes at the School of Fine Arts at Washington University, St. Louis.

A chance event in 1899 changed Berninghaus’s life forever. He was hired by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad to produce sketches and watercolors of the American West. Setting out by train, the artist discovered Taos while strapped to the roof of a freight car. The straps prevented him from falling to the ground as he sketched the passing scenery. When the brakeman pointed out Taos Mountain, Taos Pueblo, and the nearby Hispanic village, the twenty-five-year-old Berninghaus had to see more. After traveling by wagon over nothing more than a “goat trail,” he stayed a week in Taos and vowed to return the following year.

Berninghaus decided to abandon commercial art and make his career as an independent painter. Now he would have to master oils.

Oscar Berninghaus was a dedicated family man, committed to rearing his two daughters, who had lost their mother at a young age. Mabel Dodge Luhan described him as “a loving artist” because “his work appeals to genuine people and his paintings belong in homes.”