Special Value Offer: Ohkay Owingeh Pastel Drawing of Katsina Dancing [SOLD]

Special Value Offer: the consignor has suggested we offer this at 20% less than the previous price of $1750, so a new price of $1400 is listed.

Tommy Edward Montoya (1952-2009) Than Ts'áy Tas pastel drawings of traditional pueblo rites represent the blending of old and new that characterizes the work of young Native American artists. Authenticity is not something he studied; it is something he lived. As an active participant in pueblo ritual life, his works were created from memory. Montoya’s dancers are not frozen in shape or time. They are, instead, the artist’s personal expression of the color and motion of the moment. He liked to push his figures to the edges of the canvas or art board. That produced the feeling that they were being contained within borders and made them more dynamic and energetic. He was an extraordinary artist who created an extraordinary drawing in this instance.

Ohkay Owingeh is the largest, most northerly, and the most geographically isolated of the six Tewa villages.  It was where the Spanish selected as their first capital when they arrived in the late 1500s.  Six months later, they moved their capital to Santa Fe.  San Juan de los Caballeros, as it was christened by the Spaniards, is known as one of the pueblos where ritual and political matters continue to be strictly observed. Living and working in this environment, Montoya developed two independent sides of his art: figurative studies of traditional Tewa ritual; and his more cerebral, purely abstract studies of color and form. His popular figurative works, such as this one, brim with vitality and action. His strong asymmetric compositions come to life as if one were witnessing a ceremonial function at the pueblo rather than viewing a piece of art.

The drawing was executed on artist board which has been hinged and framed without mats covering any of the art.  The entire board is viewable.  It is signed in lower right with the artist’s Tewa name.

Adobe Gallery had a long relationship with Tommy Edward Montoya. We featured him as one of our primary artists at the Albuquerque gallery for a number of years. He was a wonderful person and an outstanding pastel artist.

Condition:  original condition

Provenance: from a family in Tucson, AZ