Walter Ufer

born Huckeswagen, Germany, 1876; died Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1936

BiographyWalter Ufer showed an early talent for art and with his family’s encouragement became an apprentice at a lithography firm in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1888 he went to Germany to study at the Royal Academy in Dresden, returning briefly to Chicago, then resuming his studies in Munich. From Germany he traveled to France, Italy, and North Africa, eventually returning to the United States and settling in Chicago, where he worked as an illustrator and portrait painter. In 1914 a patron paid for him to travel to the Southwest and covered his expenses for several subsequent trips. Three years later, in 1917, he relocated permanently to Taos, New Mexico, and became a member of the Taos Society of Artists. Like the other Society artists he focused on scenes in and around Taos, particularly the day-to-day life of the Taos Pueblo Indians. Ufer was an active Socialist and supporter of Leon Trotsky, and his images of Native Americans often subtly reference his view of their oppression by Anglo society.

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