Awa Tsireh, born San Ildefonso Pueblo, NM1898-died San Ildefonso Pueblo, NM ca. 1955 Search this
Medium:
gouache and pencil on paperboard
Dimensions:
sheet: 11 x 7 1/8 in. (27.9 x 18.2 cm)
Type:
Painting
Date:
ca. 1920-1925
Gallery Label:
Awa Tsireh often presented elements of ceremonial dance attire in great detail. In the Buffalo Dance, male dancers wear cream-colored deerskin kilts painted with the symbol of the horned serpent, Avanyu, along with white moccasins with skunk fur on the ankles. They hold evergreen branches, which are also attached to their waists, while horns and eagle feather adorn the headdress.
Exhibition Label:
The paintings of Awa Tsireh (1898-1955), who was also known by his Spanish name, Alfonso Roybal, represent an encounter between the art traditions of native Pueblo peoples in the southwestern United States and the American modernist art style begun in New York in the early twentieth century. The son of distinguished potters, Awa Tsireh translated geometic pottery designs into stylized watercolors that feature the ceremonial dancers and practices of Pueblo communities. But Awa Tsireh's work is more than an amalgam of traditional and modernist design. At a time when the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs attempted to restrict Pueblo cultural and religious practices, the watercolors of Awa Tsireh and other Pueblo artists helped to affirm the importance of ceremonial dance and tirual to cultural survival.
Awa Tsireh's paintings quickly found an audience among the artists, writers, and archaeologists who descended on Santa Fe in great numbers in the late 1910s and 1920s. Painter John Sloan and poet Alice Corbin Henderson took a particular interest and arranged for his watercolors to be exhibited in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere. Henderson shared with the young Pueblo painter books on European and American modernism and Japanese woodblock prints, as well as South Asian miniatures and ancient Egyptian art that provided soure material for his stylized paintings. In this way, he redefined contemporary Pueblo art and created a new, pan-Pueblo style.
The paintings in this exhibition were donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1979 by the Hendersons' daughter, Alice H. Rossin.
For decades, scholars attributed Awa?Tsireh's?use of blank backgrounds to time he spent painting Pueblo pottery when he was younger and his interest in modern elements that would make his work relevant in the art market. But according to recent scholarship,?Tsireh?avoided portraying esoteric?aspects of Pueblo?rituals, like ceremonial settings and specific objects, to safeguard sacred meaning.?Secrecy around important cultural knowledge is important to Pueblo people. This knowledge is best conveyed orally to those who are trained to use it?and?not through recordings like drawing or photography, which can?easily circulate in a wider context.?Tsireh's?art?upholds Pueblo values and ultimately helped safeguard cultural knowledge from indiscriminate circulation.??
Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, 2023
Por varias décadas, los expertos le atribuyeron la manera en que Awa Tsireh usaba los fondos sin color a los años que había dedicado a pintar cerámica Pueblo cuando era más joven y a su interés por los elementos modernos, que contribuyeron a la pertinencia de su obra en el mercado del arte. Pero, según estudios más recientes, Tsireh evitó describir aspectos esotéricos de los rituales Pueblo, como los entornos ceremoniales y ciertos objetos, para proteger el significado sagrado. El secreto en torno al conocimiento cultural fundamental es importante para la gente Pueblo. Este conocimiento se transmite mejor de manera oral a quienes están capacitados para usarlo y no a través de registros como dibujos o fotografías, que pueden circular fácilmente en un contexto más amplio. El arte de Tsireh defiende los valores Pueblo y, en última instancia, contribuyó a salvaguardar el conocimiento cultural de la divulgación incontrolada.
Más de un oeste: Visiones artísticas de una idea estadounidense, 2023
