Victor Higgins was born in Shelbyville, Indiana, in 1884. At age 15 he left home and went to study painting in Chicago, eventually enrolling in the Art Institute there. From 1911 to 1913, he studied in the great salons of Europe. In 1914, Higgins’ friend and patron, Chicago Mayor Carter H. Harrison, arranged for the artist’s first trip to New Mexico. It was love at first sight, and Higgins spent the next thirty five years of his life painting the Taos countryside and its peoples. Many critics believe Higgins to be the strongest painter of the artists who worked in Taos during this time. His style is characterized by bold brush strokes and a keen modernist approach.
Higgins left behind a large volume of work. His paintings are found in private and public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Snite Museum of Art of the University of Notre Dame, and the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe.
