Original Painting “Buffalo Hunter” [R]

Peña was painting at San Ildefonso at the same time as Tonita Peña, Ricardo Martinez, Luís Gonzales, Abel Sánchez, and Romando Vigil. He was not very productive in the early years but became so about ten years before he passed away. He is represented in the collections of the Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe; Museum of New Mexico; Denver Art Museum; and many others.

Peña had been a student of Dorothy Dunn at The Studio of the Santa Fe Indian School in the early 1930s. He had, however, started painting earlier than the 1920s, and continued until his death in 1979. His complete name was José Encarnación Peña and his Native name was spelled Soqueen, Soqween, So Kwa a Weh, translated to Frost on the Mountain. Those who remember him in his later years recall that he was called Enky (pronounced "inky").

Pena painted subjects of which he was intimately familiar, such as pueblo dancers who appeared in dances at San Ildefonso.  His paintings were rendered in accurate detail reflecting proper clothing and accessories worn by the dancers.  In his paintings he reflected a more realistic presentation of what he saw and knew from pueblo life, than a more artistic approach for decorative purposes.  To some, they may appear primitive but to others, they are an accurate reflection of pueblo life.

In this Buffalo Hunter, Pena presented a dancer as it would appear at San Ildefonso without the large heavy buffalo headdress seen in many other paintings of a Buffalo Dancer.  Perhaps there is a difference between a Buffalo Hunter and a Buffalo Dancer.

Condition:  appears to be in original condition but has not been examined out of the frame.  The full view of the artist board is shown without the use of a matboard. 

Provenance:  from a personal acquaintance of the artist now living in Colorado

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