Original Painting of a San Ildefonso Pueblo Buffalo Dancer [SOLD]

Special Value Offer: The consignor has requested that we reduce the price of this painting by 30% from the original price of $2500 to a new price of $1750.

Gilbert Atencio will certainly be recognized as one of the finest painters of the second half of the 20^th century, not only from San Ildefonso Pueblo, but among all pueblo painters.  His attention to detail was unequalled.  As a professional medical illustrator at Los Alamos National Labs, Atencio carried forward his precise drawing and painting skills over to his fine art paintings.  I have been told that he practiced the same diligence relating to ceremonial functions at the pueblo.  He did not tolerate less than perfection.

Atencio's family included four siblings, one of whom was Helen Gutierrez, a well-known potter.  His parents were Isabel Montoya (1899-1996) and Benjamin Atencio (? -1963).  His grandmother and Maria Martinez's mother were sisters.

"Atencio's strong sense of family and tribal responsibility has resulted in his seldom venturing from his native pueblo.  He experimented with adaptations of his flat style paintings.  The artist believes in the traditional Indian ways and his favorite subjects were ceremonies, ceremonial figures, and scenes from Pueblo life.  Much of his inspiration came from stories his aunts told him about their lives."  Snodgrass, 1968

Atencio attended the Santa Fe Indian School.  By the time he was twenty, he had exhibited at the Santa Fe Museum, the Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial, at Albuquerque venues, and at the Philbrook Art Center in Oklahoma.  He had been awarded six first prizes, six second prizes and five third prizes by the age of 19.

In this painting, Atencio used strong colors applied in a delicate manner.  His detail is precise, costuming accurately presented and facial features of utmost beauty.  He painted the necklace by individual bead and the buffalo head covering by every single hair.  The shells on the dancer's arm and the tin cones on the kilt are each presented singly and distinctly.  Eagle down at the ends of the feathers looks like down.  There is no detail left unattended.  This is the finest presentation of a Buffalo Dancer we have seen.  The painting is signed in lower left and dated 1964.

Condition:  appears to be in original condition but has not been examined out of the frame.

Provenance: from a gentleman in Albuquerque

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