BONUS NUMBER 108: THE ARTIST DELMAS HOWE

(Did You Sleep With the Models?)

Delmas Howe recently retired from painting, but his work seems more popular than ever. I’ve just been told by a representative of Rio Bravo Fine Art, which handles the artist’s work, that an exhibition of Delmas Howe lithographs will be on view there from July 14-August 24, 2025. (Examples below.)

Rio Bravo Fine Art, which is open Wednesday through Sunday, 12:00 to 5:00 p.m, or by appointment; phone 575.894.0572; email riobravofa@gmail.com), is located at 110 Broadway Street in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, a small town some 200 miles south of Santa Fe. It strikes me as somehow appropriate that the unforgettable art of Delmas Howe should reside in a town with such an unusual name. Until 1950, however, the town was called Hot Springs, a name less flashy but perhaps more accurate, since the area is home to a number of such therapeutic water sources.

In March 1950, the host of the radio show Truth or Consequences announced that the program would broadcast its tenth anniversary show from any town that renamed itself Truth or Consequences. Who could resist such an offer?

And so, on the evening of April 1, 1950, Ralph Edwards, the host, did the show as promised from the newly christened town. Truth or Consequences later moved to television and ran until 1988.

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The Mandate article mentions several locations where Delmas Howe’s paintings and murals are on view. In addition, the Albuquerque Museum owns one of his paintings, and a second work has recently been added to the permanent collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe.

These four paintings were completed many years after the Mandate feature, which ran in our issue of March 1983. Clockwise from top left: Cowboy Bill, oil on canvas, 46”x 56”, listed by the gallery at $18,000; Noon, 44” x 38”, $3,000; Looking South, sold; and Return to Pantheon, 50” x 72”, $18,000.

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Lithographs from the Delmas Howe exhibition that runs from July 14 to August 24, 2025, at the Rio Bravo Fine Art Gallery, 110 Broadway Street, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico 87901.

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