Pride of Place

Santa Fe art collectors use their culture-rich city to meet artists and acquire new works for their collection.

By John O’Hern Photography by Daniel Nadelbach

Doris Meyer, then a professor of Spanish at Brooklyn College, first visited Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the early 1970s to research Spanish language newspapers. At the time, she bought an RC Gorman pastel. Her husband, Richard Hertz, a builder and real estate developer, had visited Santa Fe before they married in 1980.

The Santa Fe home of Doris Meyer and Richard Hertz.

“I was in the Air Force and when I came back to New York I was young and single, and fell in with a group of art-oriented guys. We spent much of our time going to museums and to artists’ studios in SoHo. I still have the first piece I bought in Provincetown in 1957. I met a lot of artists, including Fernando Botero, who was a struggling artist down on 14th Street. I saw a painting of his in a gallery on Madison Avenue and loved it. A friend invited me down to his studio. I’ve known him now more than 50 years. Doris adds, “We bumped into him at the Prado where he said he always returned to look at the Bruegels.”

On the wall on the left is Paul Pletka’s The Father Will Descend/The Crow Has Brought the Message, 2007, acrylic on canvas and Flowers of the Mind, 2000, oil on canvas, by Elias Rivera (1937-2019), is above the fireplace. In the foreground are, left to right, a blown, hand-sculpted glass and horsehair horse, Vega, by Shelley Muzylowski Allen, and Eve, 2000, bronze, by Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara).

“I met a lot of artists summering in the Hamptons,” Richard recalls. “I had a fairly decent collection. Art was a big part of my life but money wasn’t and I was able to buy pieces over time. Doris and I met in the early ’70s and we started making art a part of our lives together.”

Botero’s sculpture Reclining Venus has pride of place in the couple’s collection perfectly at home among the multitude of primarily contemporary Native American art. Some of the artists are their Santa Fe neighbors and many are their friends.

On either side of the window, left to right, are Landscape Series II and III, 1998, acrylic on canvas, by Dan Namingha (Hopi/Tewa). On the right is a wood, silver, deer hide, glass and muslin Lakota Doll, 1997 by Rhonda Holy Bear (Hunkpapa Lakota). The dining table and mirror are by Santa Fe master tinsmith, Richard J. Fisher.

On the left is End of the Day, 1998, oil on canvas, by Elias Rivera (1937-2019). Beneath it is an Untitled, 2007, hand coiled pottery vessel made with native clay and natural clay slip colors, by Richard Zane Smith (Wyandot).

The couple most always agree on the pieces they bring into their collection. “A lot of times one of us will love a piece and the other won’t,” Richard explains. “Sometimes we give in but we have to agree that we’d like to have the piece. I go for eye appeal. I’m attracted to color and you see a lot of it our collection.” “I admire technique and the culture behind a behind a piece,” Doris says.

The couple have become friends with a number of dealers in Santa Fe whom they rely on for their knowledge and their willingness to share it. “I had admired Paul Pletka’s paintings for a long time,” Richard says. “I wasn’t taken by his religious themes and was waiting to see something I would like to have. Dennis Yares of the then Riva Yares Gallery called and asked me to go to Paul’s studio. He said, ‘I think I’ve got something for you but it’s only half done.’ He showed Richard the painting and said, ‘Here’s the painting you’ve been waiting for…but you’ve got to make a decision in the next 20 minutes!’” The painting now graces the couple’s collection.

Paul Pletka’s The Father Will Descend/The Crow Has Brought the Message, 2007, acrylic on canvas, hangs above a table on which are pots by, left to right, Dextra Quotskuyva Nampeyo (Hopi, 1928-2019) and Rondina Huma (Hopi).

Yellow Man with Flag, 1994, acrylic, by Brenda Kingery (Chickasaw) hangs above the bronze Reclining Venus, 1998, by Fernando Botero.

“We went into Niman Fine Art cold turkey when we first moved here, and became friends with Dan and Frances Namingha. We then met Leroy Garcia of Blue Rain Gallery. Over time they knew what we liked and would give us a call and point us to the best pieces.”

“We’ve also bought at [Santa Fe] Indian Market,” Doris notes, “getting up early to be in line. When Richard was out of town I saw Rhonda Holy Bear’s dolls and bought one for him. We now have five of her pieces. We collected work by Marie Cash who is Hispanic and married a Hopi man. We later saw the work of their son, Gregory Lomayesva, a young hip artist. I bought one for Richard as a birthday present.”

The Frog Transformation Mask, 1998, mixed media, is by David Neel (Kwagiutl).

In the living room is Eve, 2000, bronze, by Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara). It sits on a table by Santa Fe master tinsmith Richard J. Fisher.

Among the intriguing juxtapositions in the couple’s collection is a painting by Brenda Kingery (Chickasaw) hanging above the Botero sculpture. “We didn’t know who she was,” Richard says, “but we loved the painting. She grew up in Oklahoma and studied with master artists in Japan. The combination of cultures and the way she uses color to lead the eye across the painting attracted me. We hadn’t heard about her for many years until 2007 when President George W. Bush appointed her to the board of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) here in Santa Fe. Our friend JoAnn Balzer, who was later appointed to the IAIA board by President Obama, arranged for Brenda to come to our house to see the collection and her painting.”

Hopi Maiden and Lady Liberty, 2001, mixed media on canvas, by Gregory Lomayesva (Hopi/Hispanic), hangs in the stairway.

The late Arlene LewAllen introduced the couple to Jesús Bautista Moroles (1950-2015). “We became friends and he invited us to parties at his house in Corrales,” Richard says. “He had a gym there that he used for exhibitions. One time I saw a bunch of loose pieces in a box. He told me they were the pieces of a maquette he had made for a competition. I told him if he’d put the maquette together, I’d buy it.” Today the collectors have the maquette and a large outdoor piece, Musical Stele, that makes sound when you rub your hand along it.

On the dining table is a fused and laminated glass sculpture, 2009, by Tomáš Hlavička.

A katsina is displayed on Tom Joyce’s steel room divider, Floating Nichos.

Richard had seen an article about Tom Joyce who is a blacksmith and an artist who was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. “We wanted something to divide the living room from the hallway on which we could display art. Tom came over and two weeks later he returned with a full-size drawing of shelves on steel rods that he called Floating Nichos that displays more than 20 works of art on both sides.” Richard explains, “Every morning I walk from the bedroom to the kitchen, down the hall, past the dining room and living room. I’ll stop in front of one and take it in and enjoy the privilege of living with all of this work.”

Doris notes, “We built the house to show the art in the optimum way. No matter how different the works are from one another they just work together. It’s a feel-good situation. Every day I notice something more.”