Somers, Chester

Henry Cady Wells was born November 15, 1904 into a wealthy family in Massachusetts. He received a private education, was artistically inclined, but had trouble deciding on a direction. He spent time in the Western United States. Impressed with the landscapes, Wells decided to settle in the West and capture his impressions on canvas.

In 1932 he began to study with Andrew Dasburg in Santa Fe. He developed a preference for working with watercolors and was influenced by Raymond Jonson and Georgia O'Keeffe as well as Dasburg. Wells became known nationally for his striking watercolor landscapes of the desert Southwest. His bold brush strokes are reminiscent of the Japanese brush painting he studied briefly while on tour in the Orient.

With his brother Mason, Wells bought an old adobe home in Jacona, New Mexico. It was then remodeled and restored under the direction of John Gaw Meem. He collected Spanish Colonial art including santos, bultos and retablos, most of which he later donated to the Museum of New Mexico. Wells was well known along the Espanola Valley for his philanthropy, giving money to needy families and supplies and scholarships to struggling artists.

Wells enlisted in the army in 1941. Leaving the art world behind, and serving as a sergeant (he was not interested in higher rank) he was known as 'Hank' to his army buddies. He applied for overseas duty and was stationed in England; after the Normandy invasion he was sent to France and Belgium, where he hid old books and works of art in an effort to save them from destruction.

After returning to the U.S. in 1945 he resumed painting. He traveled often in the Western U.S., returned to France twice to tour and study, visited the Carribean and established studios in St. Croix, The Virgin Islands and Taos, New Mexico. Returning often to his home in Jacona, he served on the Board of Directors of the School of American Research and helped establish the Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico. He died of a heart attack in Santa Fe on November 5, 1954.

From the guide to the Cady Wells Correspondence, 1942-1952, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)