Santa Fe Indian School Studio Painting of Rainbow, Mask, Corn, Rainclouds [SOLD]

This painting is one of ten in a collection of works by students from The Studio at the Santa Fe Indian School.  The Studio was established in 1937 by Dorothy Dunn. The Studio painting style is characterized by flat, two-dimensional figures on a plain background. Dunn encouraged her students to paint images that reflected their heritage or things with which they were familiar. 

All the elements of The Studio style are apparent in this painting by a student known only as “Harley L.” The artist has included a rainbow hovering over a horned figure with feathers attached. To either side of the rainbow are corn plants being nourished by rain falling from tri-colored rain clouds. It is a beautiful painting and an important piece of Native American art history. While artists like Harrison Begay, Pop Chalee and Pablita Velarde went on to be successful artists, there were many others who returned to their homes and continued to live and work unknown to the artistic community. We may not know who “Harley L.” was, but at one point in his life, he was a fine young painter.  The painting style is that of Hopi culture.

This painting is in its original frame and has been re-matted for protection.

It is believed that Conrad Hilton purchased this painting for his first hotel in Albuquerque as he did with the other similarly framed ones in this group. In an interview with Ramos Sanchez, one of the students, he indicated that Hilton purchased paintings by students for his first hotel.

Condition: excellent condition with new mat board and backing and original frame and glass.

Recommended Reading: American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas by Dorothy Dunn.  This book is currently not available from Adobe Gallery

Provenance: from a family in Albuquerque who unfortunately did not know its history or provenance.