In 1920, while the University of Colorado was closed due to an influenza epidemic, Bakos visited Walter Mruk, a childhood friend and artist who was living in Santa Fe.[1] During his stay he exhibited some paintings together with Mruk at the Museum of Fine Arts. Following his relocation to New Mexico, Bakos worked for the U.S. Forest Service stationed at what is now Bandelier National Monument.[2] The next year Bakos formed an artists' group called "Los Cinco Pintores" (the five painters) with Mruk, Fremont Ellis, Willard Nash, and Will Shuster. Los Cinco Pintores was Santa Fe's first Modernist art group and produced works that depicted specifically American subjects such as the New Mexico landscape, local adobe architecture and Native American ceremonial dances. Bakos was an accomplished carver and made copies of Spanish Colonial furniture and doors.[3] In 1923 Bakos married another artist, Teresa Bakos, and they spent a good portion of their lives together.[4]
^Cunningham, Elizabeth (1983). Masterpieces of the American West : Selections from the Anschutz Collection. Denver, CO: Anschutz Collection.
^Cuba, Stanley L. (1988). Jozef Bakos : An Early Modernist (1891-1977). Santa Fe: Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of New Mexico.
^Taylor, Lon; Dessa, Bokides (1987). New Mexican Furniture 1600-1940 : The Origins, Survival, and Revival of Furniture Making in the Hispanic Southwest. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press. p. 223. ISBN0890131686.
^Flynn, Kathryn (1995). Treasures on New Mexico Trails : Discover New Deal Art and Architecture. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Sunstone Press. p. 199. ISBN0865342369.
^Lewandowski, Stacia (2011). Light, Landscape and the Creative Quest : Early Artists of Santa Fe. Santa Fe, NM: Salska Arts. p. 163. ISBN9780615469171.