A Pair of Skunks Protected by a Rainbow [SOLD]

Several of the early San Ildefonso Pueblo artists often painted wildlife and barnyard animals. Skunks seem to have been a favorite. It is a matter of conjecture as to whether Julian Martinez or Awa Tsireh is responsible for the advent of the skunk in pueblo painting, but both used this highly decorative animal most delightfully in many compositions, thereby establishing it as a fully respectable subject in pueblo art.

Alfonso Roybal (1898-1955) Awa Tsireh was painting before 1917. He was the oldest of the early group of pueblo painters. His formal education had not extended beyond primary grades. He was a student at the San Ildefonso Pueblo day school under the tutelage of Esther Hoyt, a U. S. Indian Service teacher.  She encouraged her students to paint subjects with which they were familiar, such as pueblo dance ceremonies and daily scenes.  These encouragements produced a generation of artists from San Ildefonso. 

Awa Tsireh was early recognized beyond his native world as an outstanding Indian artist. His watercolors where sent by Alice Corbin Henderson to the Arts Club of Chicago for a special exhibit in 1920. His paintings appeared in early exhibits in Santa Fe, and he was among the several artists to receive prizes at the first Santa Fe Indian Market. In 1925, the Chicago papers were generous in their acclaim for his exhibit in the Newberry Library. The Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts in New York in 1931 included Awa Tsireh paintings.

This painting by Awa Tsireh evidences the detail for which he was famous.  He did not treat this one with less consideration than his more complicated multi-figure dance ceremonies.  Such a casual painting of skunks might make one think it was not taken seriously by the artist, but one close look at this one reveals that to be a mistake.

The individual hairs on each skunk’s tail, the perfect rainbow in multi colors with fine lines representing rain, and the Sun above the rainbow all reveal that the artist took considerable effort to produce a fine painting.  This is an exceptional painting by an exceptional artist.

Condition: a small water stain appears at the artist’s signature, otherwise the painting is in excellent condition.

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Albuquerque

Recommended Reading:  Modern by Tradition: American Indian Painting in the Studio Style by Bruce Bernstein, et al