Original Painting of a Pueblo Corn Dance by P’otsúnú [SOLD]

As a child, Gerónima Cruz Montoya (P'otsúnú) was taken from her native pueblo (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo formerly known as San Juan Pueblo) and sent to the Santa Fe Indian School, as was the routine for all Pueblo Indian students of the time. The irony is that she hated the place at first; running away from the legacy that she would help develop. Like many early students of the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS), she resented being taken from her pueblo to the boarding school, but the tutelage of Dorothy Dunn, founder of the famous "Studio" fostered in the young girl a love of art that remains to this day. Montoya would succeed Dunn as the director of the arts program at SFIS, and oversee it for the next quarter century, before leaving to start the San Juan Crafts Co-Op. She retired in 1973 to focus on her art.

This painting of a Pueblo dance ceremony shows the banner carrier being followed by male and female dancers and a couple Koosa clowns.  It is signed on verso Po-tsunu Date 1975 Geronima Cruz Montoya in pencil.  It is not signed on the front of the painting.  We have had a number of paintings by P’otsúnú over the years but this is the first one of a dance ceremony.  It is assumed that she did not paint many of this type.

Condition:  appears to be in original condition but has not been examined out of the frame

Provenance:  from a gentleman from Washington

Recommended Reading: The Worlds of P´otsúnú: Geronima Cruz Montoya of San Juan Pueblo by Jeanne Shutes and Jill Mellic