Male and Female Participants in the San Ildefonso Comanche Dance [SOLD]

This exquisite watercolor piece by Julian Martinez (c. 1879-1943) Pocano of San Ildefonso Pueblo captures a traditional Comanche Dance which is performed by the Pueblo during its January 6th feast day celebrations.   

The Male Dancer is depicted in dynamic motion, wearing a magnificent, sweeping feather war bonnet, traditional face paint, a yellow shirt, and a fringed white kilt with sash. He holds a standard adorned with eagle feathers and floral/feather motifs, embodying the Plains-influenced regalia historically adopted into Pueblo social dance exchanges. In his right hand is a gourd dance rattle

The Female Dancer is shown standing upright in a graceful, rhythmic posture, wearing traditional Pueblo ceremonial attire including a black manta over a red blouse, a heavily embroidered white ceremonial sash (rebozo or apron), white buckskin moccasins with leggings, and hair adorned with feathers and ornaments while holding rattles or gourds.

The painting was executed on fine art paper with opaque watercolor (gouache), bearing Julian Martinez's characteristic handwritten red signature in the lower right corner.   

The Comanche Dance remains a powerful expression of historical inter-tribal relationships, resilience, and cultural vitality within the Pueblo world. It is a wonderful reflection of Julian's artistic legacy and the enduring ceremonial traditions of San Ildefonso.

Julian Martinez is widely celebrated not only for his pivotal role in developing San Ildefonso Black-on-black pottery alongside his legendary wife, Maria Martinez, but also as one of the pioneering early 20th-century Pueblo watercolorists. His paintings documented traditional ceremonial dances with remarkable ethnographic precision, crisp lines, and vibrant color balance.

Provenance:

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 took over the family business, which thrived until 1923.

Bavarian immigrant Emmanuel Rosenwald sold goods in this Beaux-Arts edifice until 1923. In the 1940s, a parachute factory moved in. The last business in the building was Navajo Textiles, whose murals have brightened up the façade.

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 passed down through the generations until the current family member has now made it available. The painting, along with others, hung in the family's homes for over a hundred years. Now it is available for another art enthusiast.

Condition: this Male and Female Participants in the San Ildefonso Comanche Dance appears to be in very good condition but has not been examined out of the frame.

Recommended Reading: Modern by Tradition: American Indian Painting in The Studio Style by Bruce Bernstein and W. Jackson Rushing

TAGS: San Ildefonso Pueblo, Maria Martinez, Popovi Da, pottery, paintings, Julián Martinez