Original Painting of a Bear and Deer Under a Rainbow by J. D. Roybal [SOLD]

This painting by Roybal featuring a black bear holding a deer probably has some meaning related to a pueblo legend, but I am unfamiliar with its meaning. The Sun symbol above the elaborate rainbow is probably more meaningful than just decorative.

Roybal grew up under the artistic influence of his well-known uncle Awa Tsireh. Early in his education, he studied at St. Catherine’s School in Santa Fe and at the Business College of Santa Fe. In the early 1950s he and Julia were married and it was then that he started producing pueblo dance designs on hand-painted Christmas cards. By 1955 he was seriously painting larger works and recognition for his talents came from the Heard Museum in Phoenix and the Philbrook in Oklahoma. He received a consistent string of first prizes in painting for each year since the Eight Northern Pueblos Arts and Crafts Shows began.

The precision with which he painted the figures is exceptional. The rainbow and attached appendages were outlined in black ink then filled in with color using watercolors, a feat that is not easy considering the manner in which watercolors tend to run.

Roybal was an exceptional painter and this is certainly a testament to that statement.

Condition: The painting appears to be in original condition; however, it has not been examined out of frame.

Provenance: From the personal collection of Frances Balcomb, owner of Balcomb’s Gallery, at one time located in Arizona, then Taos, Gallup, and Albuquerque, but closed since 1976.