San Ildefonso Pueblo Mixed Animal Dance [SOLD]

Mixed animal dances occur in the winter as an offering of thanks to the animals for making themselves available to the hunters in time of need.  The dances also serve as pleas for continued cooperation between animals and humans.

In this procession, the hunter leads, followed by male and female buffalo dancers, a pair of deer dancers and, finally, a pair of antelope dancers.  The antelope are usually danced by very young boys.  The buffalo dancers are covered in body paint, the deer dancers wear white shirts, and the antelope dancers wear a buff color fabric like antelope skin color.

Alfonso Roybal (1898-1955) Awa Tsireh, the oldest of the early group of pueblo painters, was painting before 1917 while he was still a teenager. His formal education had not extended beyond primary grades. He was versatile in his styles of painting in that he was equally comfortable with representational or semi-realistic.  Most of his work is in the Santa Fe Indian School two-dimensional style, particularly his early work. 

This San Ildefonso Pueblo Mixed Animal Dance painting of eight animal dancers is typical of the early works of Awa Tsireh, particularly those that were made in the 1920s.  It is signed in lower right Awa Tsireh.  It is watercolor on paper, and is framed with archival materials.

Condition:  good condition with minor stains

Provenance: Charlotte G. Mittler collection.

Recommended Reading: Through Their Eyes—Indian Painting in Santa Fe, 1918-1945 by Michelle McGeough, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, 2009