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Hide painting

Date: c. 1935

Artist or Maker: Teddy Weahkee (1890 - 1965)

Dimensions:

120 x 91 cm (47 1/4 x 35 13/16 in.)

Medium: hide | paints, natural pigments

Credit Line: Gift of Marion Herlihy, 1990.

Place Made:

Zuni Pueblo, McKinley County, New Mexico, Southwest, United States, North America

Object Number: SAR.1990-18-10

Not on view

DescriptionHide painting (on deer hide) painted in natural pigments of blue, ochre, black, brown, rust, turquoise, and pink. A stylized toad or frog is in the center, flanked on each side by a tadpole. Its outspread legs are supported by lightning symbols, which are supported by stepped cloud symbols; the lighting on the left is yellow and the one on the right is blue. The cloud on the left is black and the one on the right is blue. There is a yellow and black lightning above its right hand and a blue cloud above its left hand. The figure wears a yellow cloud step tablita and jacla-style earrings (called sadowe in the Zuni language). At the top are two round faces symbolizing the moon/female (ochre) and the sun/male (blue).
Tribal Collection Review RemarksJim Enote and Octavius Seowtewa during collection review visit June 20 and 21, 2012 (Events Record “Collection Review: Zuni Tribe, Review 8”): This painting was done on a deer skin with natural pigments. The catalog description said the central figure is a lizard, but it is a frog or toad. It also said that the two face-like symbols above the frog or toad symbolized summer and winter; actually, they represent the moon (which is considered female) (the blue one, on the right) and the sun (which is considered male) (the yellow one, on the left). The toad or frog wears earrings that were described as “jacla” earrings in the catalog description. The Zuni word for this type of earring is sadowe. Despite the imagery in the painting, which might be confused with similar imagery on some ceremonial ceramics, it is important to note that the piece does not portray culturally sensitive material—it is simply a decorative painting on hide. The piece is signed “Weahkee // Zuni Indian” in the lower right corner. The artist was well-known as a silversmith. Mr. Enote and Mr. Seowtewa both commented that the painting was very skillfully done. The colors in the painting were made with the following pigments:
Yellow – ochre
Red – hematite
Pink – a type of pink clay that is only found in one place
Light blue – chrysocolla
Dark blue – azurite
Black – mixture of sediment from stagnant water and corn smut (a black fungus that grows on corn)

In Collection(s)

Zuni Collection

The Indian Arts Research Center, in collaboration with Native American community scholars, strives to present accurate collections records. Records may be updated as new information becomes available and is reviewed with the Native American community having cultural affinity to particular items. Please write to iarc@sarsf.org if you have questions or concerns related to the documentation.