Male and Female Pair of Butterfly Dancers [SOLD]

There were cross cultural experiences and influences between the early European-American artists of Santa Fe and Taos and the local Pueblo painters.  Santa Fe artist William Penhollow Henderson, who moved to Santa Fe in 1916, had an influence on the work of Awa Tsireh in that Henderson shared his art books with Awa Tsireh and some of those books were on Japanese and other Asian arts.

It is quite likely that Awa Tsireh developed the style seen in this painting through studying Henderson’s Asian art books.  The static, frontal symmetrical positioning of flat imagery outlined in black line and filled with flat bright colors has a definite Asian appearance.  The dancers are positioned facing to the front with their feet facing sideways.  Their faces are rounded and abstract, yet their clothing is pictured in the finest accurate detail.  It is this style that Awa Tsireh produced in the 1920s. This is only one style of Awa Tsireh’s art.  He apparently tried styles seen in other books belonging to Henderson.

William Penhollow Henderson was a painter, builder, furniture maker and all-around amazing artist.  In 1937, he was the designer of what today is known at the Wheelwright Museum.

European-American artists were not the only influence on Native artists.  The Museum of New Mexico was a major contributor by providing painting materials to some of the artists, exhibiting their art at the museum and encouraging them in their work.  Mary Jane Coulter of the Fred Harvey Company was another influence.  When she was overseeing the remodeling of La Fonda Hotel on the Santa Fe Plaza in 1927, she hung paintings by early San Ildefonso artists in the rooms of the hotel.  This was a major influence in developing the art market for those artists.

Pueblo painting as a tourist art got its start in the 1920s and has flourished since.  There have been several events that sparked a renewed national interest from time to time but overall there has never been a loss of interest by art patrons.

Condition: the painting is in excellent condition and has just undergone conservation by a professional paper conservator.

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

Provenance: from a family in Santa Fe