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for Oscar Edmund Berninghaus
American, 1874 - 1952
Berninghaus grew up entranced bywith stories aboutof indians and life on the frontier life. and Native Americans. His father, Edmund Berninghaus, was a lithograph salesman, gave young Berninghaus the boy his initial exposure to the fine arts. In 1893 he apprenticed himself to the Woodward and& Tiernan Printing Company in Saint Louis, while attending night classes at the Saint Louis School of Fine Arts for three terms. He then taught illustration at the school, and worked as a free lance commercial artist. Among his activities at this time was directing and designing floats for the Pageant of the Veiled Prophets, an annual event in Saint Louis.
In 1900 the Berninghaus's first one-artist exhibition was presented by the Frank D. Healey Galleries, Saint Louis in 1900, presented. Berninghaus's first solo exhibition. He enjoyed substantial patronage from the Saint Louis city's corporate community. The Anheuser-Busch Brewery commissioned a series of paintings on the opening of the Wwest, which it published in book form in 1914. The Busch family continued its support, acquiring several hundred of Berninghaus's works during his lifetime.
In 1899, while on commission from the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad to illustrate travel pamphlets on the West, Berninghaus visited Taos and met the artist Bert Phillips. The following year he began spending every summer painting in Taos until 1928, when he settled there permanently. He was a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists in 191l5. In 1919 Berninghaus had exhibitions at Babcock Galleries and Milch Galleries, both in New York, and at Young's Art Gallery in Chicago. The income from these shows enabled him to purchase a home in Taos.
Berninghaus's mural work includes five lunettes in the Missouri sState cCapitol (191l7), ; Border Gateways for the Fort Scott, Kansas, post office (1937); and three panels for the Phoenix, Arizona, post office and court house (1938). He first exhibited his paintings of the sSouthwestern landscape and the daily and ceremonial life of the region's Indians of the region in an Academy annual in 1916; he, and continued to be a regular exhibitor there through 1947. He received a Benjaminan Altman Pprize from the Academy in 1926.
In 1900 the Berninghaus's first one-artist exhibition was presented by the Frank D. Healey Galleries, Saint Louis in 1900, presented. Berninghaus's first solo exhibition. He enjoyed substantial patronage from the Saint Louis city's corporate community. The Anheuser-Busch Brewery commissioned a series of paintings on the opening of the Wwest, which it published in book form in 1914. The Busch family continued its support, acquiring several hundred of Berninghaus's works during his lifetime.
In 1899, while on commission from the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad to illustrate travel pamphlets on the West, Berninghaus visited Taos and met the artist Bert Phillips. The following year he began spending every summer painting in Taos until 1928, when he settled there permanently. He was a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists in 191l5. In 1919 Berninghaus had exhibitions at Babcock Galleries and Milch Galleries, both in New York, and at Young's Art Gallery in Chicago. The income from these shows enabled him to purchase a home in Taos.
Berninghaus's mural work includes five lunettes in the Missouri sState cCapitol (191l7), ; Border Gateways for the Fort Scott, Kansas, post office (1937); and three panels for the Phoenix, Arizona, post office and court house (1938). He first exhibited his paintings of the sSouthwestern landscape and the daily and ceremonial life of the region's Indians of the region in an Academy annual in 1916; he, and continued to be a regular exhibitor there through 1947. He received a Benjaminan Altman Pprize from the Academy in 1926.
