Allow me to introduce Dorothy Newkirk Stewart (1891–1955). She was a free-spirited, adventurous artist and printmaker whose life was shaped by the the unconventional choices she made about how she lived, who she loved, and what she created. Her creativity and generosity in both her spirit and her resources enriched the lives of many in Santa Fe in the early twentieth century. Like many strong-willed, pioneering “New Women” who migrated to Northern New Mexico during this era, Dorothy was immediately drawn to the region for its striking landscape, an egalitarian attitude towards public art, and her aspiration for social and personal liberation. Today, her memory is kept alive through the Dorothy Stewart Trail—a popular walking path through the hills above the city—but there is much more to her story. Hers is a tale of adventurous travel, artistic innovation, and a courageous search for identity—has remained largely untold until now.
Born the youngest of five daughters into an affluent and prestigious Philadelphia family, Dorothy’s natural curiosity and artistic talent was nurtured from a young age. She attended public school near the Stewart’s elegant Victorian home in Merion, a train stop on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Main Line. At age eight, her family began spending the summers in Keene Valley, New York, at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains. It was here that her love for the natural world blossomed; swimming in glacial lakes, riding horseback through wildflower meadows, and camping over an open fire.
In 1903, when Dorothy was twelve, her family moved back to Philadelphia and that year, her father–a prominent Philadelphia physician and inventor died. The next year Dorothy entered private school at the prestigious Miss Irwin’s School for Girls. It was a rigorous academic education and while Dorothy excelled in her art classes, theater, and writing, she struggled with the advanced curriculum. So rather than pursuing a higher education, she and her mother Delia spent a year abroad, traveling around the globe on a steamship. They returned in 1911 to Philadelphia, where Dorothy began her formal studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There, she was mentored by Dr. Henry McCarter, a renowed watercolorist and portraitist Cecilia Beaux forming the basis for her work.
After the war and the death of her mother in 1918, Dorothy made her first solo expedition to Italy to study the Renaissance fresco masters. She returned home and enrolled in a History of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, a profession reserved almost exclusively for men.
Years earlier, her older sister, Margretta Shaw Stewart, had married the former U.S. Senator for Nebraska, Charles Henry Dietrich, and had become deeply involved in the women’s suffrage movement. Following the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1921, she was elected as President of the Women’s Voters League of Nebraska, and was invited by several Bryn Mawr classmates to speak to the women’s electorate in New Mexico. Eager to explore a new frontier, Dorothy accompanied her to Santa Fe. They were enchanted by the glorious high desert landscape, burgeoning art scene, and opportunity for personal freedom and expression, and Dorothy wanted to move there immediately. After repeated visits to find a suitable home, they purchased a 17th- century casita on Canyon Road in 1925 and settled into their new community.
Over the next thirty years, Dorothy established herself as a pioneer in the Santa Fe Art Colony, eventually opening her own studio–Galeria Mexico, one of Canyon Road’s first galleries–and the Pictograph Press, one of the first woman-owned printing presses.
Yet, Dorothy’s adventurous life was defined by more than her art; hers was a quest for authenticity in an era of tremendous social and cultural upheaval. Her journey embodies a life devoted to artistic expression, advocacy for women and Indigenous people’s rights, poised at the intersection of creativity and activism in early 20th-century America. Showcasing talents that ranged from the delicate lithography of Hornacinas to life sized frescoes to simple woodblock prints, Dorothy’s artwork captures the essence of the Southwest.
