Original Painting “The Corn People” [SOLD]

This painting (dated 1975) by Delbridge Honanie is acrylic on canvas with impasto technique of applying paint thickly in parts of the design.  It is signed vertically in lower right with his Hopi name, Coochsiwukioma (Falling White Snow), and dated 1975.  There are eight Corn People and what may be a Mudhead carrying a watermelon.  In lower left is a group of fish.  True to form for the members of Artist Hopid, the painting was executed in bright colors.

Honanie was born in 1946 in Winslow, Arizona.  He grew up at the Second Mesa village of Shungopavi, went to the Phoenix Indian Day School in the 1960s and then to the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, where he studied under the tutelage of Otellie Loloma, from which he graduated in 1970.  He is Bear Clan and was initiated into the Men’s Society where he received his Hopi name, Coochsiwukioma, which means Falling White Snow.  Honanie was named an Arizona Indian Living Treasure in 2006.

Honanie was a founding member of Artist Hopid, a group of five Hopi artists who banded to work to educate the public to the values and identity of the Hopi people through various art media.  Other members of Artist Hopid were Terrance Talaswaima, Milland Lomakema, Michael Kabotie and Neil David, Sr.  The artists of this group are best known for paintings using vibrant colors inspired by murals from Hopi prehistoric sites.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: from the Friends of the Commerce (TX) Public Library

Recommended Reading:  Hopi Painting: The World of the Hopis by Patricia Janis Broder