Mules of the Adobe Road
A quiet return to pueblo life. An intimate, painterly study of a man and his three pack mules ambling home through the architecturally complex backdrop of a pueblo village - accompanied by a notarized 1939 affidavit from the artist's widow, Mary E. Black.
A long day's return.
In this intimate, painterly scene, a man and his three pack mules amble slowly through a pueblo village. After a long day's travel, they return home burdened but calm. The mules' backs are still draped in colorful fabrics and cargo, while the figures press steadily forward through the lengthening afternoon - a quiet end to a long day on the road.
Painted in a palette of sun-washed ochres, purples, and muted reds, the canvas showcases Black's instinct for composition and emotional tone. The central figures are set against an architecturally complex backdrop - pueblo walls, doorways, and rooflines that recede in soft, layered light - yet the human and animal subjects remain the work's true center.
The hand of a New Mexico-period master.
Brushwork. Black's loose, gestural brushwork - confident but unhurried - gives the figures their unmistakable forward motion while letting the architectural backdrop dissolve into soft, layered passages. The tan paper acts as both background and tonal middle ground, a technique characteristic of Black's New Mexico period.
Palette. Sun-washed ochres dominate, balanced by muted reds and the violet undertones of late afternoon light. The colorful fabrics on the mules' backs - the only saturated notes in the composition - anchor the painting's emotional center.
Composition. A diagonal advance from foreground left to middle-ground right; the architectural geometry of the pueblo provides quiet vertical counterpoint to the gentle forward motion of the train.
A document from the artist's own household.
The verso of Mules of the Adobe Road carries an extraordinary set of documentary traces. At the top of the affidavit: a hand-marked period price of $50.00 and the inventory number #11546. Beneath these, in cursive ink, the affidavit reads in part:
"Mrs. Mary E. Black, wife of La Verne Nelson Black, deceased, being duly sworn upon oath, deposes and says: that she has seen the painting on the reverse side hereof and knows the same to be an original painting by said La Verne Nelson Black."
It is signed in the same hand Mrs. Mary E. Black, sworn before notary public Richard Bucharach on the 9th day of January, 1939 - with the original red embossed notary seal still intact at the lower right and his commission expiration noted as September 6, 1942. The combination of the period price, the inventory number, and an early-1939 notarized affidavit places this piece firmly within the artist's personal estate at the time of his death.
From the artist's own studio to the public good.
In a market often plagued by uncertain attribution, Mules of the Adobe Road arrives with the strongest possible documentary spine: a verso affidavit from the painter's own widow, dated to within months of his death; studio inventory marks; and an unbroken chain of custody from the Black estate through a corporate collection in California to a private collection in Utah and finally to The Collectible Home Foundation.
An unbroken chain of custody.
- pre-1939The Artist - Laverne Nelson Black
- January 1939Estate of Mrs. Mary E. Black, the artist's widow - with notarized affidavit on the verso
- 20th c.Corporate Collection, Canoga Park, California
- 21st c.Private Collection, Utah
- 2025The Collectible Home Foundation - donated by a private donor
Laverne Nelson Black (1887-1939).
Laverne Nelson Black is among the most vibrant and dynamic chroniclers of American Western life. Working principally in New Mexico during his mature period, Black produced canvases distinguished by emotive figures, movement across landscape, and a bold but restrained palette.
Critically, Black's work has long been considered undervalued relative to Taos School contemporaries such as Ernest Blumenschein and Joseph Sharp. The Foundation's larger Black research file (covering three works including Indian Chiefs and Pack Donkeys and Figures) provides additional comparative context for institutions evaluating placement.
The painting in detail.
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Interested in this piece for your institution?
The Foundation seeks placement with a qualifying U.S. 501(c)(3) institution - a museum of the American West, a New Mexico history collection, or a university with research interests in the Taos circle and the pueblo painters of the early twentieth century. The Foundation's full research file, including the Mary E. Black affidavit and the comprehensive three-work Laverne Nelson Black research summary, is available to qualifying applicants on request.
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