Juanita
The woman who had to be an artist
Juanita Donnell married Paul Lantz a painter and meet other painters. She encouraged her son Christopher Lantz to be an artist, however he choose music first painting second.
Come Visit Santa Fe, New Mexico and the House of Symphonies at the Lantz Museum
Stay at the La Fonda Hotel to feel Juanita’s presence in the painted windows and door frames. Paul Lantz’s large mural paintings are in the grand ballrooms. Then come up to the House of Symphonies to see the structure built by Christopher Lantz and the music on the walls. Paintings by Christopher Lantz, and sculptures by the newest generation of artists. Then find your muse or quite contemplation on a walk along the mesa cliffs.
NY Times 1940, Juanita’s Recognition
During the Great Depression, Juanita and Paul Lantz lived at the La Fonda Hotel, Santa Fe, NM as resident artists for room and board. Christopher Lantz was born at the hotel in 1936.
Come Visit Santa Fe, New Mexico
“Juanita Donnell Lantz Leighton Goodwin grew up in Texas and eastern New Mexico. At one time she was married to Paul Lantz and assisted him with the paintings he created in the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe. She later married Fred Leighton, an importer, and Walter Goodwin of Santa Fe and continued to paint all her life. She worked on twenty-seven ceiling decorations with John Jellicoe for the Raton Carnegie Library during the New Deal era but they were later demolished when the building was destroyed to reroute the highway. Conducting art classes for the Hispanic children of Roswell was another activity she engaged in as the result of New Deal funds. She died in Tucumcari, Arizona, below Tubac, in 1969.”
Treasures on New Mexico Trails, pg 238
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