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Coyote Dancer

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Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Coyote Dancer
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Coyote Dancer

Artist (Nisenan Maidu, Hawaiian, Portuguese, 1946 - 2006)
Date1980
MediumAcrylic on canvas
Dimensions49 1/8 in. × 37 1/8 in. × 2 in. (124.8 × 94.3 × 5.1 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2020.71
Signedl.l.: Fonesca verso, u.c.: "Coyote Dancer" (c) Fonesca 1980
Accession number 2020.71
On View
Not on view
Collections
ProvenanceEstate of Private Collection, New York, NY; (Adobe Gallery, Santa Fe, NM); Bruce Hartman, Prairie Village, KS; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2020
Label TextHarry Fonseca painted Coyote as a vibrant and dynamic avatar. In many Native cultures, Coyote is seen as a trickster or shapeshifter. Fonseca’s Coyote is also an adaptable character who dons a leather jacket and traditional dance regalia to explore the often contradictory expectations placed on Native peoples in contemporary life. Here, Coyote’s head and tail merge with the human dancer with stripes painted on their arms and legs.

Harry Fonseca pintó al coyote como si se tratara de un avatar vibrante y dinámico. En muchas culturas nativas, el coyote es considerado un embaucador o una criatura capaz de cambiar de forma. El coyote de Fonseca también es un personaje adaptable que se viste con una chaqueta de cuero y los atuendos de la danza tradicional para explorar las expectativas, por lo general, contradictorias que se proyectan en los pueblos nativos en la vida contemporánea. En esta obra, la cabeza y la cola del coyote se fusionan con el bailarín humano con rayas pintadas en los brazos y las piernas.

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