Treasured Landscapes

Pablita Velarde
ca. 1940

Pablita Velarde of Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, an early female Pueblo artist, created scenes of traditional Pueblo culture for the Bandelier museum under the Works Progress Administration Program (WPA). From 1937 to 1943, she produced over 70 paintings to help visitors understand the ancestral Pueblo sites at Bandelier National Monument. Velarde has said that these are some of her most meaningful works.

In this scene, men, women, and children of a pueblo join in a community rabbit hunt.

Casein paint on masonite. L 37.8, W 20.5 cm
Bandelier National Monument, BAND 654