The San Ildefonso school, also known as San Ildefonso Self-Taught Group, was an

art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defin ...

from 1900–1935 featuring Native American artists primarily from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico. The group consisted of Tonita Peña, Julian Martinez, Awa Tsireh, Crecencio Martinez, Jose Encarnacion Peña, and Luis Gonzales. This was the first known Native American group in the American Southwest to practice easel painting.

History

The San Ildefonso school was an art movement from 1900 until 1935, and 1917 was a key year in the production of artwork by the San Ildefonso school according to many art historians including W. Jackson Rushing. The artwork during this movement was created utilizing traditional aspects of Native culture but created specifically for a non-Native patronage. It was not until the 1920s these artists were able to sell their work. The first artist from the San Ildefonso school to become well known was Tonita Peña. Beginning in 1900, Esther Hoyt, a non-Native teacher at the San Ildefonso Day School, taught Native students painting on easels and encouraged the students to "paint as they wished". At the time it was against government policy to allow Native students to paint what they wanted, the school was operated by the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

. Students were given materials by Hoyt and encouraged to sketch their life experiences. Hoyt, provided young Tonita Peña with watercolors when she was a student there. Other students at the San Ildefonso Day School included Crecencio Martinez, Awa Tsireh (Alfonso Roybal), Tonita Peña, Romando Vigil, Alfredo Montoya, Santana Roybal, and Abel Sanchez (Oqwa Pi). After Hoyt left the school, Elizabeth Richards continued to teach painting to elementary school students. Despite being enrolled in classes, these students have been referred to as "self-taught". Edgar Lee Hewett, a professor of archaeology and the director of the

Laboratory of Anthropology The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a museum of Native American art and culture located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is one of eight museums in the state operated by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and is accredited by the Ameri ...

in Santa Fe, was working closely with locals from the San Ildefonso Pueblo on excavations between 1907 and 1908. He said that he "discovered" their ability to draw and paint in watercolor. Hewett encouraged the production of art work from Native American artists and helped gain them financial support of white patrons.

Artwork

Mostly works on paper, the paintings focused on human figures and portrayed Pueblo dances,

koshare The Pueblo clowns (sometimes called sacred clowns) are jesters or tricksters in the Kachina religion (practiced by the Pueblo natives of the southwestern United States). It is a generic term, as there are a number of these figures in the ritual ...

s, ceremonies, and genre scenes of daily life. Backgrounds were minimal or absent. The artists used blacks and whites and bright, flat colors. They added stylized motifs used in other Pueblo artist expressions, such as ceramics, mural painting, and embroidery. The artists used watercolors, and

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and

casein Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins (CSN1S1, αS1, aS2, CSN2, β, K-casein, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of ...

, a milk-based paint.

Critics

During the early 20th century, numerous white Americans became involved in an effort to promote Native American arts within white social circles. Critiques of the San Ildefonso school have been made by those who study "traditional" Native American art, versus art of Native Americans supported (and perhaps shaped by) white patronage.

San Ildefonso school artists

* Crecencio Martinez * Julian Martinez *

Alfredo Montoya Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

Jose Encarnacion Peña Jose Encarnacion Peña, also known as Encarnacion Peña, and Soqween (1902–1979) was a Native American painter from San Ildefonso Pueblo in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. He is best known for his watercolors of Pueblo ceremonies and he was an ear ...

Tonita Peña Tonita Peña (born May 10, 1893 in San Ildefonso – died September 9, 1949 in Santo Domingo Pueblo) born as Quah Ah (meaning white coral beads) but also used the name Tonita Vigil Peña and María Antonia Tonita Peña. Peña was a renowned Pueb ...

Santana Roybal Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

Abel Sanchez Abel Sanchez is a Mexican-American boxing trainer. He is best known as the former coach of Gennady Golovkin, and has trained other boxers such as Lupe Aquino, Terry Norris, and Murat Gassiev. Early life Sanchez was born in Tijuana, Mexico ...

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 ...

* Romando Vigil

References

{{Authority control American art movements Native American art Native American artists People from San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico Artists from New Mexico