Walter Ufer · 1876–1936

Walter Ufer: a biography

Trained as a lithographer and educated as a painter in Germany, Walter Ufer went to Taos in 1914 with the backing of Chicago patrons and became one of the best-known painters of the Taos Society of Artists.

Louisville and Germany

Ufer was born on July 22, 1876, and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, in a German immigrant family; sources differ on whether he was born in Germany, with the family emigrating to Louisville about 1880, or in Louisville itself. He apprenticed as a lithographer, and after seeing the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago decided on a career as a painter. He went to Germany, studying in Hamburg and then at the Royal Academy in Dresden.

Chicago and Munich

Back in the United States, Ufer settled in Chicago, working as a commercial artist and lithographer, studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Francis J. Smith school, where he later taught, and building a practice as a portrait painter. In 1911 he returned to Munich for about two years of further study, also painting in Paris, Italy and North Africa.

Taos

In 1914 the former Chicago mayor Carter Harrison and his brother William Preston Harrison organized a group of patrons to send Ufer, and his fellow Chicagoan Victor Higgins, to New Mexico. Ufer made his first trip at the end of that summer. In Taos he gave up studio methods and painted outdoors in direct sunlight, usually showing Pueblo people absorbed in their daily work or travelling across the landscape; a favorite model was Jim Mirabal of Taos Pueblo. He was invited to join the Taos Society of Artists in 1917 and settled permanently in Taos the same year.

Success and later years

In 1920 Ufer became the first Taos artist to win a prize at the Carnegie International, and through the 1920s his brightly lit paintings of New Mexico brought him national honors and steady sales; he was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design. The Depression and waning interest in Indian subjects hurt his career in the 1930s. He died in Santa Fe on August 2, 1936, and at his request his ashes were scattered near Taos. His work is in collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the New Mexico Museum of Art and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

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Sources

Written for walterufer.com; facts were checked against the sources below.

1. Smithsonian American Art Museum, "Walter Ufer." americanart.si.edu (accessed October 2026).
2. Terra Foundation for American Art, "Walter Ufer." collection.terraamericanart.org (accessed October 2026).
3. Illinois Historical Art Project, "Walter Ufer (1876–1936)," Essays on Chicago Artists. illinoisart.org (accessed October 2026).
4. Wikipedia, "Walter Ufer." en.wikipedia.org (accessed October 2026).
5. Steven Stern Fine Arts, "Walter Ufer" artist page. californiapaintings.com (accessed October 2026).