Western Art Collector – August 2019

Los Lentes, Peralta and Bosque, as well as on
Pueblos such as Laguna, Acoma, Picuris and
Taos, are turning back into dust, disappearing
much faster than they ever appeared, falling
back into the land they came from, scoop by
scoop, adobe brick by adobe brick.
“When I started to research this book,
I found another book that showed all the
historic adobe churches of New Mexico,” says
Graziano. “It was written in the 1990s and now
I would say 25 percent of those churches that it
mentioned are gone.”
When you think of New Mexico, it is these
churches that immediately come to mind.
Whether it be the fantastically modernist and
geometrical shape of Ranchos de Taos that
has attracted artists from Georgia O’Keeffe to

Ernest Blumenschein and Emil Bisttram to paint

it or the simple and utilitarian structure of Las

Trampas, it is these adobe structures—most

which date back to the mid-18th century—

that put the enchantment in the Land of

Enchantment, that call back to a distant past,

that remind us of all the many people from

so many many different places who have

wandered through these lands, some staying,

some continuing, and those who have stayed to

work and strive and dig, mix earth and water

and endure.

So why are they falling into disrepair and

returning to the earth? According to Graziano,

several of the main dioceses in the area have

filed Chapter 11 due to lawsuits so they

literally do not have the money to preserve the

churches. Thus, the upkeep of each church is

left up to—in the best scenario—the village

that surrounds them, but usually just one family

or even one person.

“There is a system in New Mexico, called

the mayordomo and what that means is that

an individual or a family takes responsibility

for the care of a church,” says Graziano. “The

archdiocese has withdrawn support for the

maintenance of these churches, the state isn’t

involved, most of the communities around

the churches are depopulated, so the entire

responsibility for saving the church falls to

these mayordomos who are volunteers. They

are typically poor people from largely very

poor areas and the people have their own

houses and families to maintain. Also, now

San José de Gracia, Las Trampas. Photo by Carol Highsmith.

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