Artist

Julian Martinez

born San Ildefonso Pueblo, NM 1879-died San Ildefonso Pueblo, NM 1943
Also known as
  • Pocano
Born
San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, United States
Died
San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, United States
Active in
  • Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States
Biography

Although Julian Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo) created many paintings on paper, he is best known for his collaborations with his wife, the potter Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo). Maria formed and polished the elegant vessels and Julian applied the painted decoration. Although they occasionally created vessels with colored designs, the couple gained an international reputation for their wok with matte black decorations on polished black surfaces.

In part, the national popularity of their pottery can be attributed to the ease with which the smooth, geometric shapes matched the art deco style of design of the 1930s and 1940s, or as Maria simply put it: "Black goes with everything." Julian painted the small Bowl (see illustration, page 2), which was formed by Maria with the Avanyu or horned serpent that also appears in his watercolor painting of Avanyu.

Andrew Connors Pueblo Indian Watercolors: Learning by Looking, A Study Guide (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, 1993).

Works by this artist (9 items)

Arthur B. Davies, Against Green, 1918, aquatint and soft-ground etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Jerome Canter, 1976.92.2
Against Green
Date1918
aquatint and soft-ground etching on paper
Not on view
Arthur B. Davies, Figure in Glass, 1916-1917, drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1971.61
Figure in Glass
Date1916-1917
drypoint on paper
Not on view
Arthur B. Davies, Andante, 1916, drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1971.60
Andante
Date1916
drypoint on paper
Not on view
Arthur B. Davies, Bathing Woman and Servant, 1917, drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1971.62
Bathing Woman and Servant
Date1917
drypoint on paper
Not on view

Exhibitions

Media - 1985.66.404 - SAAM-1985.66.404_1 - 9039
Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists
October 11, 2019March 13, 2020
Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists examines representations of buffalo and their integration into the lives of Native Americans on the Great Plains in the 1830s and in the twentieth century.
Media - 2016.11 - SAAM-2016.11_6 - 124929
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery
November 13, 2015March 6, 2022
Connections is the Renwick Gallery’s dynamic ongoing permanent collection presentation, featuring more than 80 objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world.