Taos Pueblo Artist Painting of a Peyote Ceremony Indian [SOLD]

Albert Lujan was an early Taos Pueblo painter who was ahead of his time in painting European-American style art rather than the Santa Fe Indian School style being practiced by most of the other Native American artists of his time. He, along with Albert Looking Elk and Juan Mirabal, was greatly influenced by the Anglo Taos artists of the time.

The work of all three artists was shunned by collectors and the Museum of New Mexico Fine Art Gallery because it was too much like that which the Taos and Santa Fe artists produced. Now they have become very collectible.

A few years ago, an exhibit of some 40 paintings was put on display at the Harwood Museum in Taos featuring the works of Albert Lujan, Albert Looking Elk Martinez, and Juan Mirabal. There also is an excellent article on these three artists in New Mexico Magazine, January 2003.

Lujan specialized in painting the multi-storied buildings at the pueblo, usually devoid of people. Typically, these views included one of the main pueblo houses, or an isolated adobe residence, each framed by beehive ovens, majestic mountains, a beautiful blue sky, and, occasionally, a ristra of chili.

This painting by Lujan is not like any other of his which has crossed our path at the gallery.  This is a portrait of a Plains Indian, possibly a Kiowa, dressed in the fashion of a Peyote ceremony of the Native American Church.  Many Navajo and Kiowa Indians participated in the Native American Church where peyote was an accepted and recognized religious event.  Peyote is a hallucinogenic drug accepted by the U. S. government for use by members of the Native American Church.

Perhaps Lujan wished to demonstrate his talent for portraiture art as well as painting landscape scenes, for which he was well known.  He did a very credible job with this portrait.  The man’s face is beautifully executed.  The costuming is rendered in the finest detail.  All the artist’s pueblo village paintings were executed in oil paints, but this painting appears to be of watercolor.  Another indication of the talent of Lujan.

Condition: appears to be in original condition

Provenance: this Taos Pueblo Artist Painting of a Peyote Ceremony Indian is from a client and collector in Oregon

Recommended Reading:  For a compelling and comprehensive overview of the life and artwork of Albert Lujan please see “Albert Lujan: Entrepreneurial Pueblo Painter of Tourist Art (1892 –1948)” by Bradley F. Taylor, American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 25, Number 4, Autumn 2000, page 56.