Special Value Offer: Original Painting “Untitled—Conquistadores” [SOLD]

Special Value Offer: The consignor of this outstanding painting by Tonita Peña has authorized us to reduce the price by 25%, from the original price of $10,000 to $7,500.

Less than two generations after Christopher Columbus set foot on the shores of an obscure Caribbean island on October 12, 1492, and claimed this New World for the Spanish kingdoms of Leon and Castille, Spanish conquistadores such as Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro had conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Subsequent explorers remained on the alert for other lands which might prove as wealthy as ones these men had conquered. It was this search for a “new” Mexico which ultimately led to the expedition which first brought the Spanish to New Mexico in 1540.

New Mexico, therefore, recorded the 400^th anniversary of this event in 1940. It is most likely that Peña painted this painting at that time, as she is known to have painted others recording the event.

Peña loved color and used vivid color freely as seen in this painting. Upon close examination of the men, it is noted that she painted each face differently. Like her paintings of pueblo life, she did not use background or a ground plane, but was able to give the illusion of depth by avoiding straight lines of the figures. Each individual figure gives the appearance of being alive and moving rather than being fixed in time.

This is a most unusual subject for this artist to pursue, but it is a vivid example of her true talent as an artist. She departed from her tried and true representation of pueblo daily life in her art to something completely unfamiliar to her except as recorded in history.

Condition: There is a very slight water stain in the upper part of the paper above the painted area. It is very weak and non-obtrusive.

Recommended Reading: Tonita Peña by Samuel Gray (available from us in hardback and paperback)

Provenance: ex.coll. Santa Fe art collectors