Original Painting “Winter Sun Wears a Snowflake Veil” by Helen Hardin [SOLD]

Winter Sun Wears a Snowflake Veil by Helen Hardin is a landmark original painting from 1980 presented in a two-tiered wood frame with a fabric matte. Executed in acrylic on board, this masterwork represents a pivotal moment in Hardin's career, where she fully mastered the use of modern materials unavailable to earlier generations of Native artists.

The painting reinterprets an archetypal Pueblo motif, often associated with Hopi Katsinas, through a sophisticated layering of transparent, translucent, and iridescent paints. Much of the surface was airbrushed, achieving a shimmering depth. Hardin employed drafting tools, and likely a ruling pen, to scribe the intricate network of fine lines that form the structure of the composition, demonstrating an extraordinary level of precision and grace.

Signed in the lower right with her Native name, Tsa-Sah-Wee-Eh, Winter Sun Wears a Snowflake Veil embodies a perfect balance of logic and intuition. As noted in Changing Woman: The Life and Art of Helen Hardin by Jay Scott (p.79), the painting's silver shimmer — a hallmark of her work with iridescent paints — provides a lacy snowflake effect that cannot be fully captured in reproduction, reinforcing Hardin's refusal to compromise her artistic integrity for commercial considerations.

The painting by Helen Hardin (1943-1984) Tsa-Sah-Wee-Eh hremains in excellent condition, and its technical mastery, spiritual resonance, and ethereal beauty affirm it as one of Helen Hardin's true masterpieces.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: This Original Painting "Winter Sun Wears a Snowflake Veil" by Helen Hardin is from the estate of a Santa Fe collector.

Recommended Reading:  Changing Woman: The Life and Art of Helen Hardin by Jay Scott

TAGS: Helen Hardin, Santa Clara Pueblo, Pablita Velarde, Native American symbols, Native American Paintings, Acoma Pueblo