Vendors Under the Portal at the Palace of the Governors [SOLD]

Vendors from the pueblos and other tribes are allowed to display their own hand-made items of jewelry, pottery and other crafts under the portal at the historic Palace of the Governors, the building where Governor Lew Wallace finished writing his best-selling novel, Ben Hur,  in 1880.  It was the best-selling American novel from the time of its publication, superseding Harriett Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and remained at the top until publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind in 1936. 

The vendors selling their wares under the portal are considered a "living exhibit of the Museum of New Mexico" and therefore the museum can restrict attendance to Native Americans only, without concern for discriminating against non-Native artists.  The vendors are there all day seven days weekly. 

This painting by Gene Boyce Guest is a good representation of this daily event under the portal.  It was painted in 1964, but little has changed since then.  I have seen several references to works by Guest at auction but have found no biographical information on him.  The paintings related to Santa Fe by the artist seemed to all be dated in the 1960s, so perhaps he lived for a while in Santa Fe at that time.

Condition:  original condition

Provenance: from the collection of Katherine H. Rust