Jose Encarnacion Peña, also known as Encarnacion Peña, and Soqween (1902–1979) was a Native American painter from

San Ildefonso Pueblo San Ildefonso Pueblo (Tewa language, Tewa: Pʼohwhogeh Ówîngeh ’òhxʷógè ʔówîŋgè"where the water cuts through" ), also known as the Turquoise Clan, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Santa Fe Coun ...

Santa Fe County Santa Fe County (; meaning "County of the Holy faith" in Spanish) is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, its population was 154,823, making it New Mexico's third-most populous county, after Bernalillo Count ...

, New Mexico. He is best known for his watercolors of Pueblo ceremonies and he was an early participant in the

San Ildefonso school The San Ildefonso school, also known as San Ildefonso Self-Taught Group, was an art movement from 1900 to 1935 featuring Native American artists primarily from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico. The group consisted of Tonita Peña, Julian Ma ...

and later in the "Santa Fe Studio Style" art movement.

History

Born in 1902 in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. His name Soqween (So Kwa Wi, So Kwa A Weh) translates to "Frost on the Mountain". His aunt was potter

Maria Martinez Maria Poveka Montoya Martinez ( – July 20, 1980) was a Pueblo peoples, Pueblo artist who created internationally known Native American pottery, pottery. Martinez (born Maria Poveka Montoya), her husband Julian Martinez, Julian, and other fam ...

. In the 1920s he was painting in the San Ildefonso Pueblo alongside many of the other early San Ildefonso school artists. In the early 1930s, Pena studied with painting with

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 Ch ...

at "The Studio" of the

Santa Fe Indian School Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) is a tribal boarding secondary school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). History The Federal Government established the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) to educate Nat ...

. His artwork was exhibited widely including at the

Riverside Museum The Riverside Museum (replacing the preceding Glasgow Museum of Transport) is a museum in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland, housed in a building designed by Zaha Hadid, Zaha Hadid Architects, with its River Clyde frontage at the new Point ...

(1969) in New York City;

Renaissance Society The Renaissance Society, founded in 1915, is a leading independent contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago, with a focus on the commissioning and production of new works by international artists. The kunsthalle- ...

(1958) in Chicago;

Santa Fe Indian Market The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...

(1959, winning first place for painting at the Fiesta Indian Market), and many others. Peña work is included in public museum collections including the

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums betwe ...

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

National Anthropological Archives The National Anthropological Archives is the third largest archive in the Smithsonian Institution and a sister archive to the Human Studies Film Archive. The collection documents the history of anthropology and the world's peoples and cultures, ...

, Smithsonian's

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

, among others. He was married to Patricia Peña, a doll maker. He was a mentor and influential to artist Amado Maurilio Peña Jr (born 1943).

References

1902 births 1979 deaths People from San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico Native American painters 20th-century American painters Painters from New Mexico San Ildefonso Pueblo people {{US-artist-stub