As I think I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’ve been going through a stash of personal papers and memories of my father that were given to me last month by my step-sister.
One that caught my eye was photograph my father took when he was editor and publisher of the Ruidoso News of artist Peter Hurd behind a controversial portrait of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The photo was not dated, but I recall that my father took it before the portrait was officially presented to the President.
Johnson apparently had been a fan of Hurd’s work in the past and commissioned the artist from San Patricio, New Mexico, to do the official presidential portrait. San Patricio is just east of Ruidoso in the Hondo Valley, and my father and Hurd were friends.
When the portrait was finally revealed at the White House in 1967, a scowling Johnson looked at it and declared it was “the ugliest thing I ever saw.” He claimed one of his shoulders was too long and he didn’t care for how Hurd had depicted his face. He flatly rejected the work and Hurd took it back. The story made national news. It was later shown at an art gallery in Texas, apparently by Hurd in retaliation for Johnson’s rejection. Because of its notoriety, the portrait was accepted in 1968 by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The Gallery agreed not to display the work of art until after Johnson left office.
Hurd is well known for his works throughout New Mexico and the Southwest. He studied under N.C. Wyeth, a legendary painter and illustrator of the early 1900s. Hurd married one of Wyeth’s daughters, Henriette.
I recall going to Hurd’s gallery at his ranch in San Patricio one time with my father, where the two engaged in a long conversation that I wish I could remember. My father also kept several short letters and notes he received from Hurd over the years, but I cannot seem to locate them or recall the topic of the communication. I also recall watching a couple of Hurd’s whimsical “cowboy polo” matches at his polo grounds on the ranch.
Hurd was a truly gifted western artist, capturing the rolling hills of the Hondo Valley and vast plains between there and Roswell in powerful images. One of his most famous paintings, “The Red Pickup” used to hang in the lobby of the original First National Bank of Dona Ana County, where I worked for many years. It was on loan to the bank from Gen. Hugh Milton and was later donated to New Mexico State University, where it still is kept today.
You can still get signed copies of the print from the Hurd-La Rinconada Gallery in San Patricio for $600.
When the late Sen. Frank O. Papen owned the First National Bank, he wanted Hurd to paint a large mural on the east wall of the new bank headquarters at 500 South Main. Hurd was interested, but said he was too busy at the time to do the work. He referred the project to an El Paso artist, Manuel Acosta, who had studied under Hurd. Acosta’s enormous pigment tinted plaster mural hung in the building for many years, but was eventually covered with cloth because it depicted a Confederate flag as one of several that had flown over Dona Ana County during its history. The political correctness police decided the image of the Confederate flag was too controversial. That building is currently empty, and I’m not certain what will become of the mural when and if it reopens under new ownership.
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