Family Home with Woman and Child [SOLD]

Popovi Da (Red Fox) is the son of famous San Ildefonso potter Maria Martinez and her artist husband Julian Martinez. He was born on April 10, 1923 at San Ildefonso Pueblo and died on October 17, 1971 in Santa Fe. He formally and legally changed his name from Tony Martinez to his Tewa name, Popovi Da. He was educated at the Santa Fe Indian School, where he graduated in 1939. Da was a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in World War II. He lived most of his life in San Ildefonso Pueblo.

Da listed his varied occupations as arts and crafts shop owner, Governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo, ceramics painter and designer, silversmith and painter. He was elected Governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo in 1952, and was Chairman of the All-Indian Pueblo Council.

Like his father who painted the designs on Maria's pottery, Da did his best work with symbolic designs and geometric figures. After his father's death in 1943, he did little painting. Instead, he assisted his mother with the decoration of her clay forms and improved the firing process that produced the unique black-on-black pottery for which Maria is famous.

A mural by Popovi Da can be seen at Maisel's Indian Trading Post, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Popovi Da's artworks are in the permanent collections of many public institutions across the United States; Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana; Thomas Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Denman Collection, United States Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.; National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona; Museum of the Rockies, Browning, Montana; and Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, New Mexico.

This charming painting of a pueblo woman with her child secured on her back by her shawl standing in front of their home was painted by Popovi Da in the 1940s.  It is an earlier painting by Popovi.  It was probably completed when he was in his 20s, possibly while he was attending the Santa Fe Indian School.  This painting of a Family Home with Woman and Child It is unlike his later works. 

It was exhibited at the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe in 2009-10 in the exhibit Through Their Eyes—Indian Paining in Santa Fe, 1918-1945 and is published in the book by the same title, on page 138.

Condition: appears to be in very good condition.  There is one watercolor drop on the far-right side at the mat.  It is practically invisible.

Provenance: Charlotte G. Mittler collection and purchased in 1991 from a Santa Fe dealer.

Recommended Reading: Through Their Eyes—Indian Painting in Santa Fe, 1918-1945 by Michelle McGeough, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, 2009

Relative Links: Popovi Da (Red Fox), Maria Martinez, Julian Martinez, San Ildefonso Pueblo, pottery, Native American Paintings