January 23rd, Buffalo Deer Dance

Awa Tsireh, January 23rd, Buffalo Deer Dance, ca. 1918, watercolor and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.34
Awa Tsireh, January 23rd, Buffalo Deer Dance, ca. 1918, watercolor and pencil on paper, sheet: 16 7823 14 in. (43.059.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.34

Artwork Details

Title
January 23rd, Buffalo Deer Dance
Artist
Date
ca. 1918
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 16 7823 14 in. (43.059.1 cm)
Credit Line
Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin
Mediums Description
watercolor and pencil on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Landscape — mountain
  • Indian
  • Dress — ceremonial — Indian dress
  • Ceremony — dance — Buffalo Deer Dance
Object Number
1979.144.34

Artwork Description

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.

Works by this artist (51 items)

Awa Tsireh, Animal Designs, ca. 1917-1920, watercolor on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.35
Animal Designs
Dateca. 1917-1920
watercolor on paper
Not on view
Awa Tsireh, Single Eagle Dancer, ca. 1917-1925, watercolor on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.95
Single Eagle Dancer
Dateca. 1917-1925
watercolor on paper
Not on view
Awa Tsireh, Sparring Antelopes, ca. 1925-1930, watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.51
Sparring Antelopes
Dateca. 1925-1930
watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper
Not on view
Awa Tsireh, Skunks, ca. 1925-1930, watercolor and ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.49
Skunks
Dateca. 1925-1930
watercolor and ink 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.

More Artworks from the Collection

William H. Johnson, Tunisian Street Scene with Figures, ca. 1932, watercolor and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.38
Tunisian Street Scene with Figures
Dateca. 1932
watercolor and pencil on paper
Not on view
Edward Morton, Loggers, 1937, watercolor and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, 1974.28.150
Loggers
Date1937
watercolor and pencil on paper
Not on view
Terry Schoonhoven, Study for Morning Room Murals, U. S. Court of Appeals, Pasadena, California, 1984, watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, 1987.13.1
Study for Morning Room Murals, U. S. Court of Appeals,…
Date1984
watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil on paper
Not on view
Stone Cutters (mural study, Rockport, Massachusetts Post…
Dateca. 1935-1943
watercolor, pencil and pen and ink on paperboard
Not on view