Artist

Red Robin

born NM ca.1918
Born
New Mexico, United States
Active in
  • New York, United States
  • Denver, Colorado, United States
  • Taos, New Mexico, United States
  • Santa Fe, New Mexico,
Biography

Athough little is known about Red Robin (unknown affiliation, probably Zuni), at least for a time he lived in both Santa Fe and Taos. In the 1930s, he was employed by the Colorado Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. He later moved to New York and became a textile designer. Unlike other Pueblo paintings, Landscape with Two Figures on Horseback [SAAM, 1979.144.91] represents the artist's interest in a looser approach to creating images. Perhaps Red Robin was responding to the work of Anglo artist in Santa Fe and Taos who used watercolor in a very impressionistic style. The landscape and figures are indicated by broad strokes of watercolor without the sharply defined outlines that characterize most Pueblo watercolors.

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

Works by this artist (2 items)

Dawn Boy
Date1938
colored sand on paperboard mounted on plasterboard
Not on view
Red Robin, Landscape with Two Indians on Horseback, ca. 1935-1960, watercolor and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corbin-Henderson Collection, Gift of Alice H. Rossin, 1979.144.91
Landscape with Two Indians on Horseback
Dateca. 1935-1960
watercolor and pencil on paper
Not on view