Three Friends

Artist Russell Cheney 1881 Manchester, Connecticut - 1945 Kittery, Maine

Date1929

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions44 × 58 × 2 in. (111.8 × 147.3 × 5.1 cm)

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, museum purchase

Object numberPC2015.11.1

DescriptionThree men sit around a small table with a teapot and martini shaker on it in an adobe style home. In the background is a piano, window, radiator, and shelf over a fireplace displaying pottery and art objects.

On View

On view

Collections

Common Ground 2021

Text Entries

Label Text

Russell Cheney

1881 Westport, Connecticut – 1945 New Haven, Connecticut

Three Friends

1929

oil on canvas

museum purchase

PC2015.11.1

Russell Cheney came to Santa Fe in 1929 and stayed with his friend Witter Bynner (1881–1968) at his home, which is now the bed and breakfast Inn of the Turquoise Bear. In this triple portrait, Bynner and two friends visiting from New York sit in one of the eclectically furnished rooms of the house surrounded by historic New Mexican ceramics and furniture as well as objects such as the family portrait and piano imported from the East. Bynner was best known as a poet, Chinese translator, and essayist, but he was also dedicated to human rights causes of Native Americans, women, and minorities. In addition to Russell Cheney, his Santa Fe houseguests included D. H. Lawrence, Willa Cather, Ansel Adams, Igor Stravinsky, Robert Frost, Aldous Huxley, Errol Flynn, Rita Hayworth, Martha Graham, Robert Oppenheimer, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mary Austin, Willard Nash, Thornton Wilder, and many others.

Label Text

Tres amigos

1929

óleo sobre lienzo

adquisición del museo

PC2015.11.1

Russell Cheney llegó a Santa Fe en 1929 y se alojó en el hogar de su amigo Witter Bynner (1881-1968), que en la actualidad es la casa de huéspedes Turquoise Bear. En este triple retrato, Bynner y dos amigos que estaban de visita desde Nueva York aparecen sentados en una de las habitaciones de la casa eclécticamente amueblada, rodeados de mobiliario histórico y cerámica típica de Nuevo México además de objetos como el retrato familiar y un piano importado del este. Bynner era sobre todo conocido como poeta, traductor de chino y ensayista, pero también se dedicó a las causas en defensa de los derechos humanos de los indígenas americanos, las mujeres y las minorías. Además de Russell Cheney, otros de sus huéspedes en Santa Fe fueron D. H. Lawrence, Willa Cather, Ansel Adams, Igor Stravinsky, Robert Frost, Aldous Huxley, Errol Flynn, Rita Hayworth, Martha Graham, Robert Oppenheimer, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mary Austin, Willard Nash, Thornton Wilder y muchos otros.