Found among the treasures of the B&ECPL’s Rare Book Room are a half dozen paintings by Native American artists created sometime between 1915 and the early 1930s by Pueblo natives of the southwest. Each of the works was conserved by students of the Art Conservation Department of Buffalo State, cleaning and restoring the vivid color images that feature traditional ceremonies and costume. Primarily self-taught painters, these men found admiring patrons that encouraged their talents through informal training, even providing paper, brushes and other supplies.
Two of the artists featured here are Awa Tsireh and Otis Polelonema.
Otis Polelonema, also known as Loadamosiva (or Springtime), was an award-winning Hopi Pueblo artist who attended the Santa Fe Indian School where Superintendent John David DeHuff and his wife, children’s author Elizabeth Willis DeHuff, nurtured several young Native artists. The DeHuffs supported the students using their native culture as inspiration for their artwork, and Otis would later incorporate these methods and artistry in his paintings, as well as weaving and song writing. His works were included in every major exhibition in the early 1900s and can be found in numerous museums, including the Heard Museum in Arizona.
Awa Tsireh, also known as Alfonso Roybal and Cattail Bird, was born in New Mexico into a family that was very active in the arts. While his education ended at grade school, Awa Tsireh was instructed in the home of John David and Elizabeth Willis DeHuff, both significant patrons of Pueblo culture. He also modeled for a portrait by painter William Penhallow Henderson, whose wife, Alice Corbin Henderson, became a patron of his work. Awa Tsireh would eventually work in many mediums, including metalwork, and his paintings can be found in several museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The Grosvenor Room: Genealogy, Local History, Maps, Music & Rare Books 