Pair of Mixed Media Paintings of Buffalo [SOLD]

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was born in 1940 on the Confederated Salish Flathead Reservation in St. Ignatius, Montana. She was raised on the Flathead Reservation and spent her early life with her father who was a horse trainer. As a result, animals have had an important influence in both her art and in her life. Her inspiration comes from the combination of the experience of traditional life on the reservation and learning about the work of modern artists such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Robert Rauschenberg while in school.

This pair of large mixed-media works is unusual and rare. Smith's composition is quite simple-each painting features a series of four identical buffalos made of a variety of colors and materials. The first piece-the left-facing buffalos-is mostly watercolor, with some acrylic and pastels. The second piece-the right-facing-is more complex. It is made of a variety of paints and pastels on a variety of papers, with painted fabrics pasted to the paper.

Provenance: from a Santa Fe collector who obtained them from a New York City gallery in the early 1980s.

Condition: excellent condition

Recommended Reading: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: An American Modernist by Carolyn Kastner