when it came to realism.
“When I started painting, I began with fruits
and vegetables, silver vases and pitchers...
simple still lifes in a European style. Then when
I came to Taos I started painting the Indian pots
and blankets and it just clicked. The challenge
for me was to take these objects and then
make them as real as I could in paint,” he says.
“These days I still do it the old-fashioned way:
I set up the objects on a table and paint them.
I don’t rely so much on digital photography.
I also try to extend a story into the painting with
the objects, which can be tricky but has always
meant something to me in my work.”
On August 10 Acheff will be presenting
new miniature works in Small & Sacred, a
new exhibition at Nedra Matteucci Galleries
in Santa Fe. The exhibition will commemorate
his 50th year painting professionally. “These
smaller works are particularly striking,” says
Nedra Matteucci, the gallery’s owner. “The
paintings draw us in—creating the sense of
a shared secret—offering a story that is both
intimate and transformative.” The gallery’s
director, Dustin Belyeu, calls the new pieces
“quiet, meditative and captivating.”
Acheff’s career began in earnest in 1969
in San Francisco, where the young artist met
his mentor, Roberto Lupetti, who was a still
life and portrait painter, as well as a teacher.
After meeting the painter, Acheff was invited
to his drawing class. “He was the artist I was
looking for, and I think I was the student he was
looking for. He would become my mentor,”
Acheff says, adding that his teacher had a
colorful history. “He was drafted in the Italian
army on the onset of World War II, and he was
even an officer since he was educated. He was
captured by American forces in North Africa
and brought to Texas as a POW. Security was
pretty lax because most of the soldiers never
really wanted to fight in the war anyway. So he
escaped. Later he met an American woman,
married her and then the war ended. He was
shipped back to Italy, but she didn’t want to
live in Italy so he had to work to get a visa to
come back.”
In San Francisco, Lupetti was quick to teach
his young pupil. “He would say that inspiration
was putting the carrot in front of the donkey.
He said a lot of interesting things, and he
never had to say them twice because I retained
everything,” Acheff says. “He just opened the
door and I walked right in. Something clicked.”
Later, when he learned about Taos, Acheff
came to the famous art colony with a girlfriend.
He remembers one stoplight, and a place to
rent that had been divided up into four separate
units. “It was a hacienda, this old adobe, and
it came with mice and everything,” he recalls.
“I loved it, but the girlfriend left within three
months.”
After falling head over heels for the art and
artifacts of the Southwest, Acheff immediately
started finding his footing with his work while
living and working in Taos. His first major
breakthrough came in 1981 during the Western
Heritage Sale in Houston, a show that he
started exhibiting at in 1979 thanks to an
invitation from painter Gordon Snidow. The
now-defunct sale—which auctioned cattle and
quarter horses, as well as artwork—was a major
event during its heyday, offering works from
James Boren, Clark Hulings, Robert Lougheed,
Melvin Warren and even a young Martin
Grelle. During the 1981 event, Acheff brought
The Yellow Rose of Texas, which showed a
violin and bow hanging on a wall near sheet
music for the famous song “The Yellow Rose
of Texas.” At one point in the sale, Acheff was
brought on stage to introduce himself and he,half-jokingly, said, “Hi, I’m William Acheff.
I’m an artist from Taos and I’m single.” The
audience ate it up, which sort of primed the
pump for Acheff’s painting in the auction.
“I was dreaming the piece would sell for
$25,000, which was a lot of money at the
time and really just a fantasy for me,” the artist
says, adding that a piece by Hulings sold for
$310,000 at the same sale. “But then my piece
comes up and it goes past $25,000. When it
hit $35,000 my eyes were popping out of my
head. When it hit and sold for $45,000 people
were screaming, because there I am this young
guy—it was unreal. My head was numb.”
Acheff remembers walking through the crowd
afterward and greeting the governor of Texas,
Bill Clements, and he felt like the center of the
universe. The sale was a hit for him in more
ways than one. He returned to Taos a folk hero
of sorts, and new collectors had been drawn
into his orbit.Sounds in Nature, oil on panel, 9 x 7”