Special Value Offer: Female Pueblo Dancer with Tableta and Feathers [R]

Special offer: The consignor of this painting has authorized us to reduce the price by 40% from the original price of $2500 to a new price of only $1500.

Julián Martinez is most often associated with his wife, Maria Martinez, as the painter of her ceramics from the early 1900s until his death in 1943. He did, however, execute paintings on paper as well. He was one of the very early San Ildefonso self-taught easel artists. His watercolor paintings were definitely a minor activity as compared to his brilliant achievements as the decorator of Maria’s pottery. He was painting watercolors before 1920 and continued as time permitted until his death.

This very well executed painting of a pueblo dancer wearing a tableta and carrying feathers in her hands is a good example of the talented artist’s watercolors. He was as careful outlining the subject for a painting as he was in preparing designs for pottery. In traditional pueblo fashion, there is no ground plane or sky or plant life in the painting. The single subject of the painting stands alone.

This painting was completed around the 1920s-1930s period and appears to be in the original frame. There is no matting, as was standard at the time. The painting appears to be in original excellent condition.

Provenance: from the collection of a former family of Santa Fe

Recommended Reading: Southwest Indian Painting: A Changing Art by Clara Lee Tanner