José Vicente Aguilar (born January 8, 1924), also called Sua Peen (Warm Mountain), is a

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

-American

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 ...

San Ildefonso Pueblo San Ildefonso Pueblo (Tewa: Pʼohwhogeh Ówîngeh ’òhxʷógè ʔówîŋgè"where the water cuts through" ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States, and a federally recognized tribe, established c. 130 ...

and Picurís Pueblo heritage. He is known for his

watercolor painting Watercolor (American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the U ...

s. Aguilar has exhibited across the United States, particularly in the

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

, and his work is in the permanent collection of institutions including the

Gilcrease Museum Gilcrease Museum, also known as the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, is a museum northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma housing the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West, as well as a gro ...

Early life

Aguilar was born in San Ildefonso, New Mexico, to José Angela Aguilar (San Ildefonso tribe) and

Rosalie Simbola Rosalie Simbola Aguilar (–1947) was a Puebloans, Pueblo-American Pottery, potter from the Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico, Picurís tribe. She is known for her Pueblo pottery, black-on-black pottery and for her creation circa 1931 of a technique in w ...

(Picurís tribe). Both of his parents were artists known for their black-on-black pottery, and a number of his siblings also became active in the arts, including his younger brother

Alfred Aguilar Alfred Aguilar (born 1933), also called Sa Wa Pin, is Tewa Pueblo-American potter, ceramicist, and painter from the San Ildefonso Pueblo tribe. He is known for his coil-built pottery that is carved or painted, his buffalo figurines, and his cla ...

. As a child, Aguilar attended a number of schools across the country, including the San Ildefonso Pueblo Day School in New Mexico and the Montezuma Boys' School in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally a ...

. From 1935 to 1940, he was a student at the

Santa Fe Indian School The Federal Government established the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) in 1890 to educate Native American children from tribes throughout the Southwestern United States. The purpose of creating SFIS was an attempt to assimilate the Native American c ...

, where he studied under

Dorothy Dunn Dorothy Dunn Kramer (December 2, 1903 – July 5, 1992) was an American art instructor who created The Studio School at the Santa Fe Indian School. Background Dunn was born on 2 December 1903 in Pottawatomie County, Kansas and educated in Chi ...

. He then attended

Monson High School Monson High School is a school located in Monson, Massachusetts, United States. The school's construction started in 2000 and was finished in 2002. The Monson High School replaced the old Junior Senior High School which has now become Granite Vall ...

Monson, Massachusetts Monson is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place of Monson Center lies at the ...

, followed by

Hollywood High School Hollywood High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and West Sunset Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. Histo ...

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

Career

Aguilar spent two years in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, serving in the

European theater The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

. For his service, he received the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

. When he returned, he continued his studies at

Otis Art Institute Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...

(Los Angeles), the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

, Hill and Canyon School of Art, and the Los Angeles Trade Technical Junior College, ending 1951. Aguilar then worked as a technical artist for the

aircraft industry An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

, including at

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but o ...

Douglas Aircraft Co. The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...

, and

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...

. During this time, he continued creating fine art and furthering his art education, getting additional schooling at the Los Angeles County Art Institute and the Los Angeles Art Center School.

Artistic style

Aguilar's early paintings follow the traditional Pueblo style of painting often seen by those educated at the Santa Fe Indian School. As his style matured, he was influenced by artists like

Joe Herrera Joe Hilario Herrera (also known as See-Ru; born 1923–2001), was an American Pueblo painter, teacher, radio newscaster, politician, and a Pueblo activist; from a mixed Cochiti and San Ildefonso background. He was the son of the artist Tonita Pe� ...

, and Aguilar began to utilize semi-abstract backgrounds and more loosely rendered figures.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguilar, Jose Vicente 20th-century American painters 20th-century indigenous painters of the Americas Native American painters Pueblo artists Painters from New Mexico 1924 births Possibly living people 20th-century Native Americans