Description:
Watercolor on paper. Signed l.r.: O. Polelonema, Stamped u.r.: PLANCHE 53.
From: American Indian Painters, Vol. 2, p. 8: This artist is a pure blood Hopi who lives on the second Mesa at Shungopavy, Arizona, where he was born in 1904. His early attempts at painting are historically interesting, although of little artistic value. At that time, he was awkwardly trying to copy the white manner, using perspective, and getting humorous effects as a result. He soon found his stride, however, and he has produced some fine watercolors showing a delicacy that is probably due, in part, to his facility in weaving and embroidery, which he enjoys doing. A singer and dancer, he takes an active part in the ceremonies of the Indian fraternity of which he is a member. He has a good sense of rhythm. Polelonema has painted a number of Snake Dances, probably because he is intimately familiar with this ceremony; also, perhaps, because there is always a ready market for these pictures among white people. Polelonema represents a priest of the Snake Cult participating in the famous dance of the Hopis, held annually in one of the villages in the northern Arizona desert. The performance is now well-known as fair roads have made Walpi and Oraibi accessible. To make the picture complete, the Snake dancer should have at his side an assistant with a feather fan to dissuade the rattler from striking. This picture was painted this year at my request. Polelonema is most careful to secure accuracy in costume and face paint. As in his paintings of twenty years ago, he still models the figures. In recent years he has not produced a great deal. He appears somewhat discouraged because the growing number of Indian artists has a tendency to lower the value of Indian paintings. Polelonema's works are comparatively rare, and they are increasing in value, but as usual, not always to the painter's benefit. In addition to their artistic quality, all his paintings will have historical value because of their documentary realism. (Collection, Oscar Brousee Jacobson)