Original Santa Clara Painting of a Pueblo Eagle Dancer by Pablita Velarde [R]

Pablita Velarde (1918-2006) Tse Tsan - Golden Dawn was perhaps one of the most compelling of the early pueblo artists. She produced unique and superlative works of the highest quality. This image, depicting a single eagle dancer, is superbly rendered on a colorful background of sprayed paint in gradating values, the pattern being a stepped motif at the lower portion and a circular pattern outlining the wing motions of the eagle, a powerful foil to the monumental figuration.

The main figure is superbly and precisely rendered in Pablita Velarde's inimitable style; each object, be it feather, head piece, sash, or kilt treated with the most beautiful detail and attention to the finest of subtleties.

This Santa Clara Pueblo painting is in excellent condition, and is framed with a wide linen mat outlined with a gold fillet and completed with a heavy wood frame with gold highlights. The image is signed Pablita Velarde and dated 1992 in the lower right.

Provenance: ex. coll. California collector of Native art.

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