Original San Ildefonso Painting of Chickens Running from Skunks [SOLD]

Several of the early San Ildefonso Pueblo artists often painted wildlife and barnyard animals. Skunks seem to have been a favorite. It is a matter of conjecture as to whether Julian Martinez or Awa Tsireh is responsible for the advent of the skunk in Pueblo painting, but Julian used this highly decorative animal most delightfully in many compositions, thereby establishing it as a fully respectable subject in Pueblo art.

Around 1918, students at the Santa Fe Indian School were invited by Elizabeth DeHuff, wife of the school’s newly-appointed superintendent, to paint at her home.  This was a kindness by her but violated Indian School policy.  Government policy was not to encourage the Indians to document or pursue their paganism.  Prior to that, San Ildefonso Pueblo students had been encouraged to paint as early as 1900 by Esther Hoyt, a U. S. Indian Service teacher.  These encouragements produced a generation of artists from San Ildefonso and other pueblos whose work today is in major collections.  A collection of 199 paintings by students of the Indian School gifted by Elizabeth DeHuff resides in the Yale University Library.

This painting is framed in a handmade carved wood frame made by an Indian School student named Blue Spruce.  The painting is separated from the glass by spacers.  The painting is signed in lower right and dated 1930.  The piece is framed using Museum Protective Glass.

Condition:  very good condition with some yellowing of the paper

Provenance: From the collection of Elizabeth De Huff, through Santa Fe art dealer and collector Richard M. Howard.

Recommended Reading:  Modern by Tradition: American Indian Painting in the Studio Style by Bruce Bernstein, et al