Proposal for a Museum of the Early West, Los Alamos, NM
This large rendering in watercolor and gouache contains a proposal for a museum building dedicated to the history of the "early west," meant to be built in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The design may have been made as part of an academic exercise and does not appear to relate to an existing institution. The drawing shows a bird's eye view of a landscape in which a glass building is placed. Visitors can be seen entering the building through a main entrance on the lower left. The building is partially surrounded by a circular fence. Within the fenced garden, a horse (?) drawn wagon is depicted, as are two tipis. In the upper right corner, a view inside the building is given, which shows a row of display cases placed near the large glass wall of the structure. A partition wall in the center of the space is decorated with a mural in a color scheme reminiscent of Fernand Leger, and an abstract composition inspired by Action Painting, an art movement Stewart was involved with in his early career. It is possible that he designed this work during his time as an architecture student, although the glass structure is close in character to the Roche-Dinkeloo expansions of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which would place the design in the late 1960s at the earliest.
Artwork Details
- Title: Proposal for a Museum of the Early West, Los Alamos, NM
- Artist: Jack Stewart (American, 1926–2005)
- Date: ca. 1950–70
- Medium: Watercolor over partial graphite underdrawing, mounted on board
- Dimensions: Sheet: 21 7/8 × 29 15/16 in. (55.5 × 76 cm)
- Classifications: Drawings, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: Gift of Femke Speelberg, 2022
- Object Number: 2022.417.3
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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