Adobe Gallery Blog
San Ildefonso Pueblo Snow Bird Dance Procession Painting by Gilbert Atencio - C3874V
Category: Paintings | Posted by | Fri, Mar 3rd 2017, 5:12pm
The nephew of famed San Ildefonso potter Maria Martinez, Gilbert Atencio (Wah Peen) was born in 1930. He was one of the youngest San Ildefonso painters. A student at the Santa Fe Indian School, Atencio had already had a museum show by age twenty and had garnered many awards for his work before that.
Atencio favored painting clowns and using vivid color. As he got older his attention to detail became nothing short of remarkable. He was one of the first Southwest Native artists to paint a portrait of people-his aunt and uncle, in fact-Julian and Maria Martinez. It wasn't until the 1960s that portraits became more commonplace. His later works became somewhat abstract.