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Animal Dance

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Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Animal Dance
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Animal Dance

Artist (San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1902 - 1978)
Dateca. 1940
MediumGouache on paper
Dimensions16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Framed: 26 3/4 × 30 3/8 × 1 1/4 in.
ClassificationsWatercolor
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2020.49
Signedl.r.: -Tse-ye-mu-
Accession number 2020.49
On View
Not on view
Provenance(Fusco Auctions, Willoughby, OH); Bruce Hartman, Prairie Village, KS; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2020
Label TextThroughout his career, Tse Ye Mu painted ceremonies and dances from his home, the Pueblo de San Ildefonso. Men dressed as deer, buffalo, and pronghorn dance across the middle of the painting. Geometric shapes across the top and bottom reference the ground and sky. Mixed animal dances were, and still are, an important annual event, acknowledging the continued cooperation between animals and humans. The dances occur in winter as an offering of thanks to the animals for making themselves available to the hunters.

A lo largo de su carrera, Tse Ye Mu pintó ceremonias y danzas de su tierra natal, el Pueblo de San Ildefonso. Los hombres disfrazados de venados, búfalos y antílopes danzan a través del medio de la pintura, en tanto que las formas geométricas que atraviesan la parte superior y la parte inferior de la obra aluden al cielo y la tierra. Las danzas de varios animales eran, y todavía son, un importante evento anual en agradecimiento a la cooperación permanente entre los animales y los seres humanos. La danza tiene lugar en el invierno como una ofrenda para agradecer a los animales por estar disponibles para los cazadores.
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
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