Buffalo Dancers

Awa Tsireh, Buffalo Dancers, ca. 1930-1940, watercolor and ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.45
Awa Tsireh, Buffalo Dancers, ca. 1930-1940, watercolor and ink on paper, sheet: 1114 in. (28.035.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.45

Artwork Details

Title
Buffalo Dancers
Artist
Date
ca. 1930-1940
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 1114 in. (28.035.6 cm)
Credit Line
Corbin-Henderson Collection, gift of Alice H. Rossin
Mediums
Mediums Description
watercolor and ink on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Object — weapon — bow and arrow
  • Ceremony — dance — Buffalo Dance
  • Dress — ceremonial — Indian dress
  • Indian
  • Figure group — male
Object Number
1979.144.45

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 (1 item)

Richard Landis, Shaded Stripes, ca. 1969, double plain weave linen, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of James and Joanne Rapp in memory of Dominic Grignol, 1998.144
Shaded Stripes
Dateca. 1969
double plain weave linen
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Renie Breskin Adams, Fear, Laughter and the Unknown, 1978, cotton and linen embroidery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Council of American Embroiderers on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, 1996.40, ©1978, Renie Breskin Adams
Fear, Laughter and the Unknown
Date1978
cotton and linen embroidery
Not on view
Helena Hernmarck, Theatre Tickets, 1994, woven wool, linen, and cotton, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance, 1998.37, © 1994, Helena Hernmarck
Theatre Tickets
Date1994
woven wool, linen, and cotton
Not on view
Mariska Karasz, Skeins, ca. 1950, linen, cotton, and wool, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance and museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1992.117, © 1952, F. Schumacher and Co.
Skeins
Dateca. 1950
linen, cotton, and wool
Not on view
Cynthia Schira, Reflections, 1982, woven and bound resist-dyed cotton and dyed rayon, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible in part by the James Renwick Alliance and Roberta Golding, 1985.29A-D
Reflections
Date1982
woven and bound resist-dyed cotton and dyed rayon
Not on view