Josefa Roybal (dates unknown) sometimes known as Josephine or Josepha, was a 20th-century Native American artist, a San Ildefonso Pueblo

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and potter. According to one source, she "most likely was born between 1900 and 1905 and most likely died before 1960."

Life

Roybal was born in northern New Mexico into a family of Native American artists, notably including the artist

Awa Tsireh Awa Tsireh (February 1, 1898 – March 30, 1955), also known as Alfonso Roybal and Cattail Bird, was a San Ildefonso Pueblo painter and artist in several genres including metalwork. He was part of the art movement known as the San Ildefons ...

(also known as Alfonso Roybal). According to Adobe Gallery (which cites the work of Gregory Schaaf), Josefa was the daughter of Alfonsita Martinez and Juan Esteban Roybal; sister of Awa Tsireh (1898–1955), Santana Roybal Martinez (1909-2002), Lupita Roybal, Manuelita Johnson Roybal and painter Raphael Roybal. Her father was the nephew of potter Cresencio Martinez. Her nephew, José Disiderio (J.D.) Roybal, also became a noted painter. Her "maternal grandfather, was a full-blooded

Diné The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

of the Navajo Nation, who had been adopted as an infant into the pueblo." Josefa was "one of the few female Pueblo painters in the first years of the movement" but she did not receive the attention lavished on her brother because the artistic community at that time was dominated by male artists. (Since then, more attention has been paid to the female artists of San Ildefonso Pueblo.) She sometimes signed her work with an Anglicized version of her name, Josephine, as a convenience for non-Navajo speakers. Her work can be found using both names. One of her paintings, ''Comanche Dancers'', (ca. 1930–1939), watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper, resides in the collection of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

References

External links

* Photo of
Comanche Dancers
''
Photo of work crafted by Josefa
*Schaaf, Gregory.
Pueblo Indian Pottery: 750 Artist Biographies, C. 1800-present: with Value/price Guide Featuring Over 20 Years of Auction Records
'. Vol. 2. Ciac Press, 2000. *Andrew Connors ''Pueblo Indian Watercolors: Learning by Looking, A Study Guide'' (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, 1993). {{DEFAULTSORT:Roybal, Josefa People from San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico Pueblo artists Painters from New Mexico 20th-century American painters Native American painters Navajo painters Native American women artists 20th-century indigenous painters of the Americas 20th-century American women artists 1900s births 20th-century deaths Year of birth uncertain Year of death unknown 20th-century Native Americans 20th-century Native American women American women painters