Pair of Original Paintings of a Bear and a Deer [SOLD]

This pair of paintings was rendered in the typical style of Gilbert Atencio with much color and significant quantities of background material.  Both of these were painted on cream-colored paper.  The heartline bear is surrounded by the sun and rainbow as well at trees and a yucca plant.  The heartline deer is surrounded by a blooming yucca plant, an elaborate geometric ground plane that continues up as a wall on the left, and clouds above the deer.

We have chosen to offer these as a pair because we think Atencio had that in mind when he painted them. They are both signed and dated '67.  The paintings were framed without adding mats around them.  The full image of the paper is visible.

Gilbert Atencio was one of the youngest pueblo artists in the 1940s.  He had spent two years at the Santa Fe Indian School.  By the age of 20, he had exhibited at the Santa Fe Museum and in Gallup and Albuquerque as well as the Philbrook Art Center in Oklahoma.  He had already been awarded six first prices, six second prizes and five third prizes by the age of 19.

Atencio was the son of Isabel M. Montoya and the nephew of Maria Martinez. He was educated at San Ildefonso Day School and graduated from the Santa Fe Indian School in 1947. He served in the U. S. Marine Corp after which he worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a medical illustrator for most of his adult life.  His attention to detail in medical illustrations carried forth into his paintings of pueblo life.

Condition:  Both paintings appear to be in original excellent condition.

Provenance: from the collection of Katherine H. Rust

Recommended Reading: Southwest Indian Painting a changing art by Clara Lee Tanner