SANTA FE, NM.- Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, is presenting an early winter exhibition of paintings by the late Peter Rogers (1933-2018). A prolific artist in New Mexico for more than fifty years, Rogers was a steady force behind the creative spirit of the Southwest.

Born in London in 1933, Rogers studied at St. Martin’s School of Art and was a member of the prominent Royal Society of British Artists. In 1962, after years of exhibitions and positions with the Royal Society, Rogers cut ties with the group and moved to Spain. There he met Carol Hurd, daughter of beloved American artists Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth and granddaughter of famed illustrator N.C. Wyeth. The two would marry and return to the states where they settled in San Patricio, New Mexico.

Following in the footsteps of his in-laws, Rogers made a living painting commissions and portraits. The most recognized of these is Rogers’s 1964 mural “Texas Moves Toward Statehood” which adorns the lobby of the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library in Austin, and for which Rogers earned the title of Honorary Citizen of Texas.

However, the great driving force of Rogers’s life was his deeply felt sense of spirituality. Likened to the work and writings of William Blake, Rogers sought enlightenment through his art. For forty years, Rogers pursued his quest developing his largest and most important body of work. Allegorical in nature, Rogers’s paintings from his series, aptly named “Artist’s Quest”, reflect the artist’s exploration of the connection between the spiritual and material worlds. This exhibition presents the last twelve works of the series and consequently, the last twelve works completed by Rogers.