Original Acrylic Painting “Mimbres Bird Eating Fish” [SOLD]

Helen Hardin was a perfectionist from the very beginning of her career.  Many artists paint from a free-hand style but Hardin meticulously used architectural templates for circles and straight lines to achieve the absolute most perfect lines possible.  Hardin's paintings were extremely popular.  At the time, she was the only Indian female showing at Fenn Galleries in Santa Fe, a gallery specializing in pricey deceased Taos Founders and Santa Fe artists. 

Hardin was questioned on more than one occasion as to why and how she could spend so much time on one painting meticulously layering line after line.  It was just something she felt was important and it was a drive she had to be perfect in her art.

This painting of a Mimbres bird eating a fish is typical of her paintings.  Lines and circles abound and colors laid in layers were the product of the time for her.  This painting was completed and dated in 1978.  The green slip that provides the backing for the bird and fish has a copper tone that is very subtle, almost as if copper flakes were added to the paint before application.  The same is true of the dark brown paint.

The Mimbres Indians of New Mexico of a thousand years ago still fascinate today's artists.  Tony Da spent a large part of his career reimaging Mimbres designs and potters from Acoma Pueblo have produced many of their designs on contemporary pottery for the past 50 years.  Helen Hardin had her romance with the art of the Mimbres as well.  This painting is an excellent example of her fine art.

Condition:  original condition

Provenance: from a collector of Native paintings in Albuquerque

Recommended Reading:  Changing Woman: The Life and Art of Helen Hardin by Jay Scott