Posing on the Plaza Aquatint Etching by Helen Hardin [SOLD]

A beautiful work in two colors—midnight blue and burnt umber. This image depicts a solitary figure in traditional Pueblo women's garments with tableta and dance wands, standing in the center of the plaza. Subtle diagonal shifts occur at the juncture of the background adobe structures and the sky, creating a certain dynamism and asymmetry in the otherwise centralized image. It is beautifully and sensitively realized in the subtlest ranges of tone and visual texture.

The print has R1 in the lower left corner, which we believe indicates that this particular print is a record impression. These are editions that are traditionally kept by the print studio as a record of their work.

In the lower right corner it is signed Tsa-Sah-Wee-Eh and includes Hardin's hallmark little spruce tree.

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 Posing on the Plaza Aquatint Etching by Helen Hardin is from a client of Adobe Gallery

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