Deer Track (Pa-ee-na)

Kenneth M. Adams, Deer Track (Pa-ee-na), after 1924, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1991.205.1
Copied Kenneth M. Adams, Deer Track (Pa-ee-na), after 1924, oil on canvas, 20 1⁄4 x 16 1⁄4 in. (51.5 x 41.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1991.205.1

Artwork Details

Title
Deer Track (Pa-ee-na)
Artist
Date
after 1924
Location
Dimensions
20 1⁄4 x 16 1⁄4 in. (51.5 x 41.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Arvin Gottlieb
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Indian
  • Portrait male — Pa-ee-na
  • Portrait male — Deer Track
Object Number
1991.205.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1991.205.1

Artwork Description

Deer Track clasps his huge hands around one knee, comfortably holding a pose while the artist works to capture the man’s quiet dignity. Kenneth Adams carried the orange and blue tones from his sitter’s clothing into the rich brown of his skin. The same colors appear again in the draped fabric of the background, so that Deer Track seems naturally a part of the environment around him. Adams painted his models from life, and his mentor, artist Andrew Dasburg, praised his former student, noting that Adams’s “strongest sympathy was for people.” (Kenneth Adams, N.A., 1963)