Opening: The Artistry of Dorothy Stewart

Opening May 29, 2026, Historic Santa Fe Foundation is proud to celebrate the centennial of the Stewart sisters’ arrival on Canyon Road. In honor of this anniversary, we invite you to a retrospective of the work of Dorothy Stewart (1891–1955), a pioneer of the Santa Fe art community and the founder of Pictograph Press.

This exhibition features over twenty original woodblock prints on translucent paper, rare hand-printed editions of her Shakespearean volumes, Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and select oil paintings that capture the architectural and cultural soul of the Southwest. Hosted at the Thaw Education & Research Center in the Edwin Brooks House(adjacent to El Zaguán), the show offers an intimate look at Stewart’s technical evolution from her classical roots to the bold, monochromatic mastery that defined her career in New Mexico.

Dorothy Newkirk Stewart was a force in the Santa Fe Artist Colony and a vibrant, central presence on Canyon Road during the height of its creative awakening. Born in Philadelphia and classically trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Stewart’s move to New Mexico in 1925 represented a radical embrace of the “City Different.” Her career was marked by a relentless curiosity, moving seamlessly between the worlds of painting, fresco, printmaking, and independent publishing, while also serving the community as a dedicated gallery director.

The sisters’ impact on Santa Fe was both creative and structural. While Dorothy focused on her artistic output, her sister Margretta Dietrich became a titan of local preservation. It was Margretta who purchased El Zaguán specifically to protect the historic property from redevelopment, ensuring its survival as the cultural landmark that now serves as the home of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation.

Contact Anne Kelly at anne@historicsantafe.org