Flag Bearer and Drummer of the Corn Dance

An interesting piece by Augustin Abeyta of Tesuque Pueblo, this painting features the Flag Bearer and Drummer during a Corn Dance. The colors are especially bright, as the Flag Bearer wears orange pants and the drummer a vivid yellow shirt. Abeyta added a lot of detail to the figures here, as they each wear intricately painted necklaces as well as sashes with evergreen branches on their backs.

The staff carried by the flag bearer contains a fox tail and is held high as it is quite tall. The other man's drum is traditional for a Pueblo dance and features conventional diamond designs overlayed on the front.

Simple, but heartfelt, this is a wonderful work by relatively under the radar Tesuque painter Augustin Abeyta. It is signed in the lower right Augustin Abeyta, Tesuque.

Augustine Abeyta (c.1914-1971), was the son of Julio Abeyta, a silversmith and one-time governor of Tesuque Pueblo, and the brother of Crucita Abeyta, a well-known potter.

Abeyta's works were exhibited at the American Indian Exposition and Congress in October 1937 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this painting of a Flag Bearer and Drummer of the Corn Dance was formerly in the collection of Santa Fe art dealer Richard M. Howard.

Reference: The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters by Patrick D. Lester

TAGS: Tesuque Pueblo; Native American Painting, Augustin Abeyta