Pair Paintings of San Ildefonso Male and Female Buffalo Dancers

In this PAIR of paintings, Gilbert Atencio used strong colors applied in a delicate manner. His detail is precise, costuming is accurately presented, and facial features are of utmost beauty. He painted the necklaces by individual beads and the buffalo head coverings in detail. The ruff on the male dancer's arm and the tin cones on the kilt are each presented singly and distinctly. The embroidery on the female's skirt looks to be in three-dimension. There was no detail left unattended. This is the finest presentation of a pair of Buffalo Dancers we have seen. Each painting is signed and dated. The female is dated 1959 and the male 1958.

Animal dances occur in the winter as an offering of thanks to the animals for making themselves available to the hunters in time of need. The dances also serve as pleas for continued cooperation between animals and humans. Members of New Mexico Pueblos would make a four-month trek to the Plains to search for buffalo on an annual basis.

Gilbert Atencio (1930-1995) Wah Peen, from San Ildefonso Pueblo, believed in the traditional Indian ways and his favorite subjects were ceremonies, ceremonial figures, and scenes from Pueblo life. Here he painted traditional San Ildefonso Pueblo Male and Female Buffalo Dancers, as they would appear in a plaza dance. They are individual paintings in matching frames. Much of Atencio's inspiration for paintings came from stories his aunts told him about their lives. His style varied from the traditional flat style done early in his career, to more realistic paintings done later in his career.

Atencio was the son of Isabel M. Montoya and the nephew of Maria Martinez. He was educated at San Ildefonso Day School and graduated from the Santa Fe Indian School in 1947. He served in the U. S. Marine Corp and lived most of his life in New Mexico. He worked at Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) most of his adult life as a medical illustrator. It is from this career that he developed his meticulous style and attention to detail. His paintings are flawless. Because of his career, he did not produce a large amount of art until his retirement from LANL.

When I met Atencio in the 1980s, he was retired from LANL and was actively painting and, on occasion, making pottery of traditional Tewa style. He had a beautiful adobe home at the pueblo and it was classically decorated in a simple and restrained manner. He was a charming man and an excellent host.

Condition: this Pair Paintings of San Ildefonso Male and Female Buffalo Dancers is in very good condition

Provenance: this painting was first posted by Adobe Gallery in 2017 when we received it from a Santa Fe resident. It was listed as from the estate of Alfred Stieglitz of Rye, New York, which was auctioned in 2011. Alfred Stieglitz was the husband of Georgia O'Keeffe.

Recommended Reading: Southwest Indian Painting a Changing Art by Clara Lee Tanner

TAGS: Native American Paintings, San Ildefonso Pueblo, Isabel M. Montoya, Maria Martinez, Gilbert Atencio