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Martin Bowden

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Martin Bowden (September 22, 1884 – July 29, 1958) was an American artist known for his large-scale carvings and paintings along the walls of Purgatoire Canyon near Trinidad, Colorado. Bowden left school when he was 14 and started working in the coal mines, later working as a cowboy and homesteading before he began making art on the walls of Purgatory Canyon over the course of 40 years. The canyon came to be known as Painted Canyon.

Martin Bowden
Born(1884-09-22)September 22, 1884
Rive-de-Gier, France
DiedJuly 29, 1958(1958-07-29) (aged 73)
Trinidad, Colorado, U.S.
OccupationArtist

Early life

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Bowden was born on September 22, 1884, in Rive-de-Gier,[1] near Lyon, France, to parents of Italian origin.[2][3][4] The family's original surname was Baudino,[3] which was anglicized to Bowden[3] after they arrived in the United States.[5][6] The family emigrated when Bowden was young and settled in Las Animas County, Colorado.

Bowden's father was a coal miner and died in an accident in 1889, when he was almost 5. His mother was left widowed with two young children, Bowden and his younger brother.[5] In 1893, she remarried Matteo Tessidore and they had two daughters.[7]

Career

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Martin Bowden left school when he was 14[6] and started working in the coal mines near Trinidad alongside with his stepfather, sketching on mine walls and coal carts using chalk and other available materials.[2][4] Bowden later worked as a cowboy,[6] traveling through parts of Wyoming and Montana before returning to southern Colorado. He then learned blacksmithing and metalworking in Hoehne, Colorado.[3]

In 1911, Bowden homesteaded near Purgatory Canyon under the Homestead Acts.[8] Conditions in the area were difficult, and Bowden eventually abandoned farming.

Around this time, he created what is now known as "The Bowden Trail" a series of large-scale carvings and paintings along the walls of Purgatory Canyon. His work consisted primarily of life-sized[8] or near life-sized figures, including animals and non-native Americans, made directly onto sandstone surfaces. Bowden developed his artistic practice over four decades,[3] producing more than sixty individual images within the canyon.[2] Bowden’s process involved first chiseling outlines into the rock to create a permanent form,[3] then applying paint, often just commercially-available house paint.[8][6]

Death

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Bowden died on July 29, 1958, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[9]

In 1972, artist Patricia Jozwaikowski tried to save Bowden's work from erosion, twice writing Colorado's governor.[10] She also composed an original poem about the artist.[10] In 1989, Bowden was one of the overlooked historical figures depicted by artist Barbara Jo Revelle on a mural on the wall of the Colorado Convention Center.[4]

In the 2020s, there was renewed interest in Martin Bowden’s work and community efforts to document and share materials.[11]

References

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  1. ↑ "U.S. World War II Draft Registration Card for Martin Bowden" (Document). National Archives and Records Administration. 1942.
  2. 1 2 3 Bob Leiser (June 26, 1981). "Painted Beasts". Denver Post Magazine.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Colorful Colorado: Indian's were the First Artists". Pueblo Chieftain. Oct 29, 1972. pp. C2. Retrieved 14 April 2026 – via newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 3 Morreale, Don (25 March 2021). "A Colorado Panorama". Your Hub (Denver). Denver Post. pp. 5C.
  5. 1 2 Helmers, Dow (February 9, 1970). "Trinidad's Martin Bowden, the Michelangelo of the Purgatory". The Pueblo Chieftain. p. 4. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Hunt, Inez (1960). "Martin Bowden, The Hermit of "Purgatory" Canyon". To Colorado's Restless Ghosts. Denver: Sage Books. pp. 78–88. He was born in Lyons, France, in 1884 of an Italian mother who was a gifted singer and a father who later become a miner. The Baudinos, as they were called then, came to America while Martin was still a small child.... An uncle, on enlisting in the U. S. Army during the Spanish American War, changed the family name to Bowden because of the unpopularity of Latin-sounding names at that time.
  7. ↑ "Colorado Marriage Record: Matteo Tessidore and Berta Domenica" (Document). State of Colorado. May 9, 1893.
  8. 1 2 3 "What will Happen to Bowden's Art on Canyon Walls". Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph. Photographs by R. A. Joyce. April 8, 1972. pp. D24–D26. Archived from the original on April 8, 1973. Retrieved 14 April 2026 – via Pikes Peak Library District.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ↑ "Artist Dies of Self-Inflicted Wound". The Chronicle-News. Trinidad, Colorado. July 30, 1958.
  10. 1 2 Fetler, John (Jan 8, 1972). "Arts Chronicle". Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph. pp. D-10. Retrieved 14 April 2026 – via newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Russell, Piper (2026-02-14). ""The hermit painter of Purgatoire Canyon" left artistic mark on rock walls of Colorado". Denver Gazette. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
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