New Mexico

Gordon Louis Mortensen

Among the natural landscapes Gordon Mortensen portrayed was New Mexico, a place he returned to frequently, finding in its seasonal turns - and their respective flora - a unique and ever-changing palette. Georgia O'Keefe, who commented about the New Mexico landscape, “It is not a country of light on things, it is a country of things in light.”

In this composition, Mortensen captures the amazing range of textures and colors of the New Mexican landscape, intensified by the afternoon sun. Fed by seasonal monsoons, the flora on the desert floor softens the harsh landscape, stretching between the dramatic, layered geological make-up of surrounding mesas, their hues as varied as a sunset. Still more color is found in the flora cutting through the foreground, middle, and background of the image. The composition is peaceful, warm, and inviting.

Mortensen printed this color reduction woodcut depicting the New Mexico landscape using 44 colors, printed with 32 separate press runs. Gordon Mortensen commented on the process he uses: "Only one woodblock is used. On it an image is drawn in India ink. Before the first color is printed, any areas that are to remain unprinted (white or the color of the paper) are cut away from the surface of the block. Then an oil base ink is used to print the first color on all of the sheets of paper that are to be used for the edition and proofs.

After the first printing the block is again cut, removing any surface of the block that is to remain the first color in the finished print. After each subsequent color is printed, the block is cut, the process continues until the print is finished and most of the surface of the block is cut away."