Zia Pueblo Painting of a Corn Dance [SOLD]

Crescencio Martinez of San Ildefonso was the earliest of the pueblo easel artists.  He passed away in 1918, long before pueblo easel art was recognized as existing.  He was followed by four pueblo young men who essentially constitute the first artists to produce paintings to be sold.  The four were Crescencio’s nephew, Awa Tsireh, Hopi artists Fred Kabotie and Otis Polelonema, and Zia Pueblo artist Velino Herrera, Ma Pe Wi.  They became very productive in 1918, feeding off each other’s enthusiasm.

Dr. Edgar Lee Hewitt, Director of the Museum of New Mexico, arranged for the four young men to work at the museum in 1920.  Famous New Mexicans Alice Corbin Henderson, Mary Austin, and Mabel Dodge Luhan were instrumental in finding outlets for the works of these artists.  They purchased their paintings and found others to purchase them as well.

In 1919, Elizabeth De Huff, wife of the newly appointed Superintendent of the Santa Fe Indian School, arranged an exhibit of the art of the Indian School students.  De Huff had canvassed the classes to find students who excelled in painting and drawings.  She stated “Two boys showed early marks of genius: a Zia Pueblo boy Velino Shije (later Herrera) in a primary grade whom the teacher complained, drew animals and faces upon all the papers she gave to him for school work; and a Hopi boy Fred Kabotie, who would forget what he was doing when he had sawed half through a board in the carpenter’s shop and intently draw figures on its surface…  One could not learn, the other would never be a carpenter, so they might just as well be occupied elsewhere.”  Brody 1997

At the age of 20 years, Herrera’s painting technique had improved tremendously and his works showed great confidence and control.  He was applying colors in complementary tones and was able to exhibit perspective in his works.  Ethnographic accuracy was important to Herrera and his paintings were strong in that direction.

In this painting, Herrera painted the dancers in a circular position with perspective achieved by making the end of the line dancers smaller in scale than those at the front.  The figures interact dynamically and are individualized by variations in posture, gesture and facial expression.  Each of the faces is different, resulting in a realistic presentation of a pueblo dance.

Herrera signed his paintings with variations of Velino Shije Herrera in 1918, then with a combination of his Spanish and Indian names later.  Some of the early paintings were signed Mah-pe-we, as done on this painting.  Later, he standardized his name to Ma Pe Wi.

The painting is framed without matting and is in a dark brown hand carved wood frame that may or may not be original to the painting.

Condition:  appears to be in original condition

Provenance:  from the collection of a prominent Santa Fe family

Reference and Recommended Reading:  Pueblo Indian Painting: Tradition and Modernism in New Mexico, 1900-1930 by J. J. Brody, 1997