Julian Martinez Painting of a Warrior on Horseback [SALE PENDING]

This painting by San Ildefonso Pueblo artist Julian Martinez is an early classic Native American image of a warrior on horseback.  Though most widely recognized for his efforts painting pottery made by his wife Maria, Julian Martinez was productive and successful with his solo ventures. This brightly colored, skillfully crafted painting is an excellent example of the "flat style" of painting that was taught to young Native students at "The Studio" of the Santa Fe Indian School in the 1930s. This well-documented movement had actually begun many years earlier at Martinez' pueblo of origin, which places the artist among the earliest known Pueblo painters.

Martinez' subject here is a warrior on horseback.  As is to be expected of a "flat style" image, the figures are seen in profile and there is no background or ground plane. Martinez paid careful attention to his subject's clothing and weaponry, outlining each of the headdress' many feathers and adding colorful patterns to the shield. The warrior himself looks stoic and focused. His visible eye — a capital "A" turned on its side, essentially — is similar to those seen in many works from this early era.  The black and white horse is simple and minimal. Martinez' decision to place a colorful circle in the center of the image and then surround that circle with colors that are a bit more muted was most effective. This is a strong image from one of the earliest known pueblo painters.

The painting is signed Julian Martinez in the lower right.  It is framed in the original thin black wood frame.  

Julián Martinez (1885-1943) Pocano - (Coming of the Spirits) was an artist who was born in 1885 at San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico.  He is most widely recognized for his work painting pottery made by his wife, Maria Martinez. He excelled at painting on paper as well. Martinez' paintings are in numerous public collections, including: Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; Dartmouth College Collection, Hanover, New Hampshire; Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska; National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.; Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff; American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York; Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, New Mexico; University of Oklahoma Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Norman, Oklahoma; School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California; and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Martinez died on March 6, 1943 at San Ildefonso Pueblo.

Condition: The painting appears to be in good condition but has not been examined out of the frame.

Provenance: 

This Julian Martinez Painting of a Warrior on Horseback is from a private New Mexico collection. It comes from the family of Emanuel Rosenwald, a Jewish pioneer merchant of Las Vegas, NM. 

Around 1863 Emanuel Rosenwald started E. Rosenwald & Son mercantile business at Plaza and Bridge Streets in Las Vegas, New Mexico. In 1912, three of his four sons, Cecilio, Gilbert, and David, took over the family business, which thrived until 1923.

Rosenwald sold goods in his Beaux-Arts building. The building still stands at the plaza in Las Vegas. One of Emanuel's sons was the original purchaser of this painting by Julian Martinez in the early 1920s. It hung in his home and then was inherited by his son, the current owner. The painting, along with others, hung in the family's homes. Now it is available for another art enthusiast.

Recommended Reading: Indian Painters & White Patrons by J. J. Brody, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1971