Watercolor Painting of “Bow and Arrow Dancers” [SOLD]

One always hopes that a trove of paintings by a deceased artist is found years following the death of the artist and that is exactly what has happened here.  When José Encarnacion Peña passed away in 1979, his widow, Pat Peña, moved to Taos as it is customary for non-Native partners to depart the pueblo once the Native partner is no longer alive.  When Pat passed away a decade ago, her grandson, a Santa Fe auto mechanic, cleaned out her residence and put a group of a dozen or more paintings by Encarnacion away.  Just recently, he decided to investigate their desirability and value and contacted us for advice. 

Only one of the paintings was framed, the remainder were not.  We are presenting the framed one at this time.  It is a painting of five Bow and Arrow Dancers in a procession line.  Each of the women wears white buckskin leg-wrapped moccasins, the traditional black manta or dress with red and green yarn decoration, a red woven waist sash or belt, and each a colorful blouse.  In their hands each carries a bow and arrows and each has a gourd rattle. 

This painting is signed and dated 1979, the year Encarnacion passed away.  It is certainly among the last of the paintings he completed.  His paintings are beautifully primitive in technique. He was among the many early painters at San Ildefonso Pueblo, working as early as the 1920s.  Others were Tonita Peña, Ricahard Martínez, Luís Gonzales, Abel Sánchez, and Romando Vigil.  Like these other painters, he had been taught nothing about painting or use of colors.  He somehow came about his talent for paintings from intuitive ability and from watching others.

“Soqween’s painting . . . inspires a deeper response than the more decorative aspects of Pueblo art usually do.  This effect appears to result from his painting technique more than from any other factor, although his projection of emotional quality depends also on expressive drawing and intuitive composition. The paint never is smooth and flat but shows the uneven texture of varied mixtures and pressures through which he has directed his brush.”  - Dunn 1968

Soqween was not a prolific painter until the last decade of his life, a time when he resumed painting after decades of working on his farm.  Having the opportunity to see the paintings inherited by his step-grandson was a moment of reflecting on the times Soqween and Pat came to the Albuquerque gallery with a painting or two to sell. I don’t think I appreciated the primitiveness of his work at that time but have grown to appreciate that style over the years of seeing paintings by him and other early artists from San Ildefonso.  One of the true rewards of this career is having had the opportunity of meeting all the wonderful older potters and painters who are no longer with us.  Seeing a work of art by them brings back fond memories.

Condition: appears to be in original condition

Reference: American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas by Dorothy Dunn

Provenance: from the estate of the artist through the family