San Ildefonso Painting of “A Plains Warrior” by Julián Martinez [SOLD]

Julián Martinez is best known for painting the pottery of his wife, Maria Martinez, but he was an accomplished painter as early as 1920, often depicted pueblo dancers and geometric imagery. Once he became totally involved with painting Maria’s pottery there was little time for painting wall art.

Julián was particularly fond of painting warriors on horseback, often changing little but the imagery on the shield or perhaps the body paint on the Indian. This is the finest of this style painting we have encountered. The horse is magnificent with his head high and his legs gracefully rendered.

The painting is double matted and framed in a gold-leaf frame hand made by Tres Mowka Designs of Santa Fe.

Condition: The painting appears to be in original excellent condition with the exception of a pencil mark in the vicinity of the signature, which is probably removable if the painting were removed from the frame.

Provenance: The painting is from the Los Alamos Ranch School, Williams Hall, before the school was taken over by the government during World War II.