Three Masks by Helen Hardin [SOLD]

This is a remarkable painting by famed Santa Clara painter Helen Hardin, done in a style that she truly mastered-acrylic on paper. It features three masks to be worn in ceremony at the Pueblo, and each is a different shade. The masks are positioned in a Venn diagram pattern. The one on the left features a tan background, the middle a red/black background, and the right a purple, red, and turquoise background. Each mask has been designed with Southwestern motifs, and each has beautiful, speckled colors to add to the detail of the piece.

The eyes and mouths are very intriguing as well, and the two eyes of the middle mask are the left and right eyes of the others. Each mask has a feather headdress on top of varying colors. Behind the masks there is an extremely soothing dark blueish-green backdrop. This entire portion of the work is centered on a large beige fabric panel, typical of Hardin's framing.

The bottom of the painting is signed Tsa-Sah-Wee-Eh in the lower right corner. It is framed in a two-tiered wood frame.

Helen Hardin (1943-1984) Tsa-Sah-Wee-Eh or "Little Standing Spruce" was an innovative and influential painter from Santa Clara Pueblo. Hardin was born in 1943 to Santa Clara Pueblo painter Pablita Velarde and Caucasian civil servant Herbert Hardin. Inspired by her mother, she began creating and selling paintings as a teenager. She went in a different direction than her mother and her mother's peers, creating more contemporary works that depict Native American symbology with striking geometrical patterns and abstract imagery. She died of cancer in 1984, leaving behind an astounding body of work for her many admirers to enjoy.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this painting of Three Masks by Helen Hardin is from the collection of an Albuquerque family

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

TAGS: Helen Hardin, Santa Clara Pueblo, Pablita Velarde, Native American symbols, Native American Paintings, Acoma Pueblo