Original Painting of a Mudhead Katsina by Pablita Velarde [SOLD]

In the 1960s, when the Balcomb family operated an art gallery in Gallup, New Mexico, at 915 West Coal Avenue, Mrs. Balcomb, the family matriarch, signed a contract with Pablita Velarde (1918-2006) Tse Tsan - Golden Dawn for the Balcomb's to make silkscreen prints from four of Pablita's original mineral earth paintings. The four selected paintings were a single Koosa Clown figure, a single Mudhead Katsina figure, a pair of Koosa Clowns and a pair of Mudhead Katsinas.

Mrs. Balcomb made 1000 copies of each of the four images and she, herself, printed the silkscreens at the gallery. There was only the one run.

Mrs. Balcomb donated the original painting of the single Koosa Clown and the original painting of the double Mudhead Katsinas to the city museum in San Luis, Colorado. The family states that the museum no longer has any record of the two original paintings so they were probably sold by the museum years ago. The other two original paintings were retained by Mrs. Balcomb who passed away in December 2012.

This painting of a Mudhead Katsina is the original art for the silkscreen prints that were made in the 1960s. It is one of the original paintings retained by Mrs. Balcomb. It is signed in lower right and framed in the original frame selected by Pablita Velarde.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from the estate of Mrs. Balcomb passed on to the family.

Recommended Reading: Pablita Velarde-Painting Her People by Marcella Ruch, et al.