Pueblo Parrot Dance
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Peña created hundreds of genre paintings focused on Pueblo dances that were open to the public, appealing to the period interest in cultural preservation. Watercolor and gouache, popular among Pueblo artists during the late 1920s and early 1930s, facilitated a precision that endowed her paintings with a documentary style, reinforcing their appearance as records of observed events. The untouched background of Pueblo Parrot Dance is common in Peña’s paintings and reflects a specific understanding of the world. When a dance is performed, the sacred site of the dance and its surroundings are activated; by leaving the background blank, Peña essentially neutralized the space that the figures occupy, adhering to Pueblo values.
Artwork Details
- Title: Pueblo Parrot Dance
- Artist: Tonita Peña (San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico 1893–1949 Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico)
- Date: ca. 1935
- Medium: Gouache over graphite
- Dimensions: Framed: 23 1/4 in. × 29 1/4 in. × 1 1/4 in. (59.1 × 74.3 × 3.2 cm)
Sheet: 14 × 22 in. (35.6 × 55.9 cm) - Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection, Gift of Amelia E. White, 2015
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints