Original Oil Painting “Hopi II” [SOLD]

Roseta Santiago (1947- ) is an internationally known and collected artist who was born and raised in Washington, D.C.  In 1994, she was hired by Bass Pro Shops to create murals featuring wildlife. After completing 22 murals for the retail chain, she moved to New Mexico.  The rich and unique cultures of the Southwestern Pueblo peoples enchanted Santiago. She began creating paintings depicting Pueblo people and their artifacts.

Santiago’s presentations of Pueblo artifacts are intended to highlight their subjects’ beauty by removing potential distractions.  She uses a single, bright overhead lighting source, creating dark areas and shadows. The objects are presented on a wooden table and with no visible background.  The subjects are all that exist in these images, forcing the viewers to focus their full attention towards them. They’re worthy of that attention, and the manner in which the artist presents them highlights their beauty effectively.

Santiago’s images of pueblo pottery pieces are—at least on their upper halves, where the bright overhead light lands—so incredibly detailed that they almost appear photorealistic.  With “Hopi II,” she presented an interesting change of pace: an intense, spectacular depiction of a Hopi Katsina Doll. The artist, here, composed her subject not in the photorealistic style of the pueblo pot images but in a more spontaneous fashion.  Her brushstrokes are bold, and her colors—clearly modeled after an actual traditional Katsina doll—blended with one another in thick, confident strokes. It’s realistic, its colors are naturalistic, but it also seems emotive and personal.

The details—the cluster of string and feather remains, the holes in the hands, the short legs pressed closely together underneath the wide kilt—will endear the image to collectors of Hopi Katsinam, as will the fact that Santiago’s carving is, at 7 inches tall, realistically sized and proportioned.  Were it not for the beautiful gold and black frame in which the painting is mounted, it could be mistaken from afar for an actual Katsina Doll, standing in a dramatically lit niche. That Santiago’s presentation is so realistic but also so rich in feeling speaks to her incredible ability as a painter and her genuine reverence for her subject. 

Condition: this Original Oil Painting "Hopi II" is in excellent condition

Provenance: from the collection of a Santa Fe resident

Recommended Reading:  Santiago: Conversations in Paint Language—the Art of Roseta Santiago by Bob Saar

Artist Image Reference and Recommended Reading: Santiago: Conversations in Paint Language-the Art of Roseta Santiago by Bob Saar, et. al.