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| 021 Acoma Pueblo, c. 1850 |
 This wonderfully handsome jar virtually pulsates with its bold decorations in rich blood red and dusky blacks. The vessel is transitional from older designs that were confined in bands around the body and neck (see Fig. 13) to a new freedom with flowing rhythms of pattern unconstrained by formality of layout. Like dancers in a painting by Matisse, the figures swirl around the jar with both grace and self-assurance, waving cocky flags of black as they pass. This is a Pueblo pottery jar with ¡Èattitude." The artist was obviously having so much fun that it didn't matter if the black edging missed some of the red areas, or intruded onto the side of the flower petal, or dripped into the interior of the flower on the right. At one place the artist noticed an edge line placed too far from the red, smudged it off a bit, repainted the line and went on. Even the tiny dot edging around and inside the flowers was painted with defiant insouciance. As with all the other illustrations in this folio, the surface features, with their patina of age, the crackling of the slip, and even the tiny fractures are so faithfully depicted that the careful study with a hand lens is rewarding.
--Francis H. Harlow, Los Alamos |
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