San Felipe/Laguna Pueblo, Southwest
Circa 1945
Oil on canvas Height 34¾ inches (88.3 cm); width 57¾ inches (146.7 cm) Framed: 37½ x 60⅛ inches (95.3 x 152.7 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, New Mexico
Calvin Fenley Chavez was born to a San Felipe Pueblo father and a Laguna Pueblo mother and worked as a sign painter and commercial artist in Arizona before establishing himself as a fine art painter. This large canvas depicts the annual Pueblo Rabbit Hunt, which takes place at the appearance of the first full moon in September and is preceded by a ceremonial dance. Twenty riders are selected to conduct the hunt, beginning in the east at sunrise and concluding at sunset.
The rabbit hunt is a communal ceremonial event with documented roots in Pueblo practice, and Chavez rendered the scene with the direct narrative clarity of an artist working from cultural knowledge. The skulls of the hunted rabbits are placed in a ceremonial shrine until the following year's hunt, connecting the event to a continuous cycle of ceremonial observance. The painting's scale and compositional breadth give full weight to the landscape and the collective nature of the event.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
San Felipe/Laguna Pueblo, Southwest
Circa 1945
Oil on canvas Height 34¾ inches (88.3 cm); width 57¾ inches (146.7 cm) Framed: 37½ x 60⅛ inches (95.3 x 152.7 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, New Mexico
Calvin Fenley Chavez was born to a San Felipe Pueblo father and a Laguna Pueblo mother and worked as a sign painter and commercial artist in Arizona before establishing himself as a fine art painter. This large canvas depicts the annual Pueblo Rabbit Hunt, which takes place at the appearance of the first full moon in September and is preceded by a ceremonial dance. Twenty riders are selected to conduct the hunt, beginning in the east at sunrise and concluding at sunset.
The rabbit hunt is a communal ceremonial event with documented roots in Pueblo practice, and Chavez rendered the scene with the direct narrative clarity of an artist working from cultural knowledge. The skulls of the hunted rabbits are placed in a ceremonial shrine until the following year's hunt, connecting the event to a continuous cycle of ceremonial observance. The painting's scale and compositional breadth give full weight to the landscape and the collective nature of the event.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
