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Artist: Albert Looking Elk (1888-1940)
Title: Taos Pueblo
Date circa: 1930
Media: Graphite on board
Signed, lower right, Albert Looking Elk in his script signature; titled, Taos, lower front.
Dimensions of paper: 10 x 13 7/8 inches (254 x 352 mm).
Excellent condition. Drawn full sheet on heavy board. Very slight toning from previous framing, current mat covers this problem.
Albert Looking Elk (aka - Albert Martinez 1888-1940) began painting images of Taos Pueblo and its surroundings circa 1915, after receiving the encouragement of several members of Taos Society of Artists. In American art history Looking Elk may be considered one of the first Southwestern Pueblo people to paint with oils and to apply perspective in his renderings. Looking Elk's oil paintings were unlike ledger book style illustrations, or the flat style "Indian School" watercolors, then popularly produced by other outsider Native artists. The art of Looking Elk, and his Taos Pueblo associate Albert Lujan, generally depict non-romanticized and non-religious scenes of the Pueblo and contrast sharply with the semi-sentimental and static dance images created by other contemporary Pueblo artists. Looking Elk's art depicts the reality of life in a Pueblo village as viewed by an insider.
Drawings by Albert Looking Elk are extremely rare.
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