Original Painting “Watching the Dawn Runners” [SOLD]

This painting by Delbridge Honanie is signed with his Hopi name, Coochsiwukioma, and dated 1977.  It is titled on verso with two titles.  One, “Watching the Dawn Runners,” is written in red ink on the backing paper.  The other, “Flute Ceremonial Rising Morning,” is written on a piece of matboard glued to the backing paper.

The painting (dated 1977) is of twelve maidens, each wrapped in an exquisitely decorated blanket.  They are standing in a corn field and there are rain clouds above their heads.  Below ground level is a group of 9 figures that seem to be parading along.  They are apparently the Dawn Runners of the painting title.

Honanie was born in 1946 in Winslow, Arizona.  He grew up at the Second Mesa village of Shungopavi, went to the Phoenix Indian Day School in the 1960s and then to the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe where he studied under the tutelage of Otellie Loloma from which he graduated in 1970.  He is Bear Clan and was initiated into the Men’s Society where he received his Hopi name, Coochsiwukioma, which means Falling White Snow.  Honanie was named an Arizona Indian Living Treasure in 2006.

Honanie was a founding member of Artist Hopid, a group of five Hopi artists who banded to work to educate the public to the values and identity of the Hopi people through various art media.  Other members of Artist Hopid were Terrance Talaswaima, Milland Lomakema, Michael Kabotie and Neil David, Sr.  The artists of this group are best known for paintings using vibrant colors inspired by murals from Hopi prehistoric sites.

Condition:  appears in excellent original condition but has not been examined out of the frame.

Provenance: from the Friends of the Commerce (TX) Public Library

Recommended Reading:  Hopi Painting: The World of the Hopis by Patricia Janis Broder