Santa Clara Miniature Painting of a Bird by Helen Hardin [SOLD]

Helen Hardin, from the very beginning of her career, was at the cutting edge of Indian-influenced art. Her art, though obviously drawing on her Indian heritage and tradition, was very much in the mainstream of modern aesthetics. This fine acrylic painting on artist board is dated 1979. It is a simple drawing of a bird but a work exhibiting exceptional drafting skills and superlative technical rendering. It is quite exceptional and striking, as the work of Helen Hardin tends to be, with a true sense of the complexities and intricacies involved in the creation of such a work.

Over a sprayed background of metallic beige color, Hardin fashioned a beautiful bird with colorful feathers resting on a ground plane in multi-colors, rendered in architectural precision in the Pueblo tradition.

This is a truly wonderful work of delightfully intimate scale, in excellent condition, with original frame. The painting is signed in lower right Tsa-sa-wee-eh with the artist's cartouche and is dated 1979.  On verso, in the artist's hand is "An original painting by Helen Hardin Tsa-sah-wee-eh" followed by her little spruce cartouche.

Condition:  The painting is in original condition and is in the original frame.

Provenance: From the collection of a Santa Clara Pueblo Indian friend of Helen Hardin who purchased it directly from the artist in 1979.

Recommended Reading: Changing Woman: The Life and Art of Helen Hardin