Artist

Felipe Archuleta

born Santa Cruz, NM 1910-died Tesuque, NM 1991
Media - portrait_image_114964.jpg - 115583
© Davis M. Mather, 1976
Also known as
  • Felipe Benito Archuleta
  • Felipe B. Archuleta
  • Filipe B. Archuleta
Born
Santa Cruz, New Mexico, United States
Died
Tesuque, New Mexico, United States
Biography

Felipe Archuleta makes his sculptures out of wood and other materials he finds himself or obtains from his neighbors. He uses carpenter's tools to fashion the various parts of each work, and nails and glue to assemble them. He smoothes the joins with a mixture of sawdust and glue, which also builds up the surfaces.

Archuleta's first sculptures depicted those animals he knew best—sheep, rabbits, burros, and cats. He soon began to make larger, sometimes life-size, animal sculptures, expanding his repertoire to include giraffes, elephants, monkeys, and others based on pictures he found in children's books and natural history magazines. Archuleta generally emphasizes the ferocious nature of the animals he portrays by providing them with irregularly carved teeth, wide-eyed stares, and exaggerated snouts and genitals.

Felipe Archuleta, who has spent most of his life in Tesuque, New Mexico, worked as a carpenter for over thirty years. In 1967, unable to find work, he prayed to God to alleviate his poverty and desperation. His subsequent religious awakening led to his work as a carver of animals, for which he has been justly celebrated.

Hispanic-American Art (brochure, Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art)

Works by this artist (4 items)

Howard Newman, Temptress, 1978, bronze, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1985.30.54
Temptress
Date1978
bronze
On view
Howard Newman, Half Woman, Quarter Bird, 1974-1975, bronze/cast, assembled and screwed, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.68, © 1975, Howard Newman
Half Woman, Quarter Bird
Date1974-1975
bronze/cast, assembled and screwed
Not on view
Howard Newman, Untitled, 1979, graphite and brown watercolor wash on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1985.30.53
Untitled
Date1979
graphite and brown watercolor wash on paper
Not on view
Howard Newman, Winter, 1978, bronze on integral base, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1985.30.55
Winter
Date1978
bronze on integral base
Not on view