Pueblo Dancer (Matachina)
Artist
Jan Matulka
(American, born Czech Republic, 1890 - 1972)
Date1917
Mediumoil on board
DimensionsImage: 12 × 8 3/4 in. (30.5 × 22.2 cm)
Support: 12 × 8 3/4 in. (30.5 × 22.2 cm)
Frame: 16 11/16 × 13 9/16 × 3/4 in. (42.4 × 34.4 × 1.9 cm)
Other (Exhibition security mount): 22 3/4 × 19 1/2 × 1 1/16 in. (57.8 × 49.5 × 2.7 cm)
Support: 12 × 8 3/4 in. (30.5 × 22.2 cm)
Frame: 16 11/16 × 13 9/16 × 3/4 in. (42.4 × 34.4 × 1.9 cm)
Other (Exhibition security mount): 22 3/4 × 19 1/2 × 1 1/16 in. (57.8 × 49.5 × 2.7 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineMuseum purchase, 2005
Object number2005.28.1
DescriptionAbstract Pueblo Indian dancer with colorful costume; background is blue on right and yellow on left; geometric and floral shapes appear on costume.eMuseum Notes
Jan Matulka visited New Mexico on a Joseph Pulitzer Traveling Grant trip through the West, including Arizona and Texas, in 1917 and 1918. He combined European modernist aesthetics, specifically the facets of cubism and the expressive, non-representational color of fauvism, with Southwestern subject matter to create some of the most formally avant-garde work yet produced in New Mexico. Like Matulka’s paintings, the Matachina is also a combination of European and New Mexican cultures. The dance commemorates the conflict between the Christians and the Moors in Spain. Pueblo people learned this dance from their Hispanic neighbors, and both perform it during the Christmas season.
On View
On view
