Rudolph Treas was a member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe of New Mexico.  He attended the Santa Fe Indian School for several years then attended the University of Arizona where he continued studying art.  Treas' affiliation with the Mescalero Tribe rather than the western Apache Tribes of Arizona is reflected in his art.  For instance, he shows the greater simplicity and delicacy of the Gaan Dancers' headpieces of the eastern Apaches as well as the simpler designs on the bodies of the same performers.

The ceremony pictured here is that of the young Apache girls' coming of age, an event that takes place every summer on the Mescalero Reservation.  All girls who come of age during the year are celebrated at that time.  As is typical of Treas, there is no ground plane or sky element, only the events of the ceremony. 

According to Clara Lee Tanner, "Treas's work can be briefly characterized in a few traits.  He uses flat colors predominantly, occasionally suggesting modeling in lines.  Figures are more often flat portrayals against a blank ground; occasionally there may be a bit of ground suggested in a line or a patch of color."

This painting is one of the more elaborate of those by this artist.  Most of his paintings are of simpler subjects.  This may be one of the most important of his career. 

Condition:  the painting appears to be in original excellent condition although it has not been examined out of the frame

Provenance: from the collection of Katherine H. Rust

Recommended Reading:  Southwest Indian Painting a changing art by Clara Lee Tanner