Richard Martinez, Opa Mu Nu, Native American Painter

Richard Martinez, whose Native name was Opa Mu Nu, was born at San Ildefonso Pueblo 1904.  He painted as early as 1920, and, in 1950, was still paining mythological and ceremonial subjects.   According to James Bialac, as published in Tanner (1973), and Snodgrass, Martinez was not painting in the late 1960s or early 1970s. 

Clara Lee Tanner (1977) stated that "He favored mythological and ceremonial subjects, and judging by the variety of each, Richard must have been well-versed in the lore of his people.  Too, this artist was greatly influenced by Awa Tsireh and his three styles, painting in all of them. Realism-plus-abstract themes appealed to Richard Martinez, for it gave him great freedom for his apparently vivid imagination."

TAGS: San Ildefonso Pueblo, Native American Painting, Awa Tsireh