Original Painting of Buffalo Hunt by Ma Pe Wi [SOLD]

Between 1910 and 1920, there was great activity among several groups of Southwest Pueblo Indians in reviving painting as a general expression. There is no way to state precisely the first date of the artistic attempts of these early artists, but one painting by Ma Pe Wi is dated 1917.

Ma Pe Wi was from Zia Pueblo and was among the earliest of the Pueblo painters. He was encouraged to paint while he was employed at the School of American Research in Santa Fe. He, along with Awa Tsireh and Fred Kabotie, as young men, were allowed to paint two or three hours a day, and supposedly were not subjected to any white influence whatsoever.

Ma Pe Wi was one of the young Pueblo artists chosen to paint murals for the 1933 Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts at the Corcoran Gallery of the Smithsonian. By 1936, Ma Pe Wi was painting a variety of subjects. He frequently combined several styles in one painting.

This Buffalo Hunt serves to exemplify this. In the upper portion of the painting are very stylistic art deco type clouds and rain. He incorporated the traditional Zia Sun symbol for the Sun. The ground plane is composed of two-tone lines ending in raised triangles upon which are stepped elements.

Dominating the center of the painting are two lines of highly stylized buffalos. The animals are practically the same, but their placement and their repetitive sameness give a feeling of rhythm. Into the herd ride two hunters, shooting their arrows and plunging their knives into the animals. One hunter has dismounted from his horse and is riding the buffalo he is attacking. The horses and men are represented in more realistic style. Color is good and action is excellent.

This is one of the finest paintings by Ma Pe Wi we have ever seen on the marketplace.