“Dream of Bighorn People” [SOLD]

Milland Lomakema was a member of the Artist Hopid, a group organized in 1973 by Hopi artists Michael Kabotie, Terrance Talaswaima, and Neil David, Sr.  The objectives of the group were to use Hopi art to instill pride and identity, to educate the world to the aesthetic and cultural values of the Hopi, to develop new ideas in Hopi art, to control the aesthetic for Hopi art, and to document Hopi history through the visual arts. 

Lomakema is a self-taught artist with no formal training in the arts, although he attended a number of schools over the years.  In the late 1950s, he traveled with an education tour group throughout the east coast of the United States and Canada.  In the mid-1960s, he worked with a detective agency in Phoenix, then he joined the Hopi police force in 1968, during which time he devoted most of his spare time to painting.  He won first place in the Heard Museum’s National Indian Art Show in 1968 for one of his paintings.  Then in 1969, he won additional prizes for his art and more prizes in 1970 and later.

This painting is entitled “Dream of Bighorn People” on verso and mistakenly identified as the work of Neil David, Sr., which, of course, it is not. It is signed in lower left Dawakema and dated 1979.  Dawakema is the Hopi name of Milland Lomakema.  The white ram’s horn predominates the center of the painting and rests atop one of two black faces that are back to back.  The faces are outlined in white which transforms them from two- to three-dimensional.  The lower center of the painting has a shield with feathers, the meaning of which is unknown.

Hopi art is rooted in deep religious meaning.  It may appear to a novice as an abstract painting, but there is meaning to each element of the design.  The Ram Katsina is one of the important katsinas during the winter celebrations as a plea to the spirits for abundant hunt animals.  It is quite likely that this painting is such a visual presentation.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from a gentleman in New Mexico who inherited it from the estate of a local family.

Recommended Reading:  Hopi Painting: The World of the Hopis by Patricia Janis Broder.