Paris to the Platte - John Edward Thompson

Modernist art didn't get a very warm welcome in 1919 Denver...
One would scarcely have expected such frenzied responses to the twenty-fifth annual exhibition of the Denver Art Museum in 1919. The previous exhibitions were rather comfortable and conventional. Denverites went to see -and buy- art that was familiar, pleasing and "real". Residents of the Centennial State liked their art straightforward and plain-spoken, like themselves. Many Colorado artists had studied in Europe and were well aware of the seismic shift shaking the art world, but the wider Colorado public remained blissfully traditional. 
But in Paris, art capital of the world, art was changing, Cezanne, Braque, Picasso and Matisse had revolutionized painting. Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, all were transforming paintings from "windows" to objects in themselves. Colorado citizens seemed immune from the new influences. 
Their tranquility would be traumatized by an art scandal in Denver, just over 100 years ago. John Edward Thompson had come from Paris to Denver, bringing Modernism to Colorado.