Albert Lujan also known as Xenaiua meaning "Weasel Arrow," was a genre and landscape painter from Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

Taos Pueblo is a census-designated place in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It is north of Taos. The population was 1,264 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Taos Pueblo is located at...

.

Three Taos Pueblo painters

Albert Looking Elk

Albert Looking Elk

Albert Looking Elk , also known as Albert Martinez was a Taos Pueblo painter. Looking Elk is one of the three Taos Pueblo Painters.-Background:Albert, the son of José R...

, Albert Lujan, and Juan Mirabal

Juan Mirabal

Juan Mirabal , also known as "Tapaiu" or Red Dancer, was an artist from Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.-Three Taos Pueblo painters:Albert Looking Elk, Albert Lujan, and Juan Mirabal have been identified as the "Three Taos Pueblo" painters...

 have been identified as the "Three Taos Pueblo" painters. As the Taos art colony

Taos art colony

The Taos art colony is an art colony founded in Taos, New Mexico by artists attracted by the rich culture of the Taos Pueblo and beautiful landscape. Hispanic craftsmanship of furniture, tin work and more played a role in creating a multicultural tradition of art work in the area.In 1898 a visit...

 grew, these men studied oil and watercolor painting and made works of art of their community, told from a Native American perspective. An exhibition of their work "Three Pueblo Painters" was held at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos January 24 – April 20, 2003.

Taos Pueblo

Located in a tributary valley off the Rio Grande

Rio Grande

The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...

, Taos Pueblo

Taos Pueblo

Taos Pueblo is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos speaking Native American tribe of Pueblo people. It is approximately 1000 years old and lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico, USA...

 is the most northern of the New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 pueblo

Pueblo

Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...

s. For nearly a millennium

Millennium

A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....

, the Taos Indians have lived here. It is estimated that the pueblo was built between 1000 and 1450 CE, with some later expansion. The Taos Pueblo is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The Pueblo, at some places five stories high, is a combination of many individual homes with common walls. There are over 1,900 people in the Taos pueblo community. Some of them have more modern homes near their fields and stay at their homes on the pueblo during cooler weather. There are about 150 people who live at the pueblo year-around. The Taos Pueblo was added as an UNESCO World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 in 1992 as one of the most significant historical cultural landmarks in the world; Other sites include the Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...

, Great Pyramids and the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

 in the United States.

For centuries, Pueblo painters have painted in tempera, clay slips, and earth pigments on woven textiles, interior walls, ceramics, and hides. Looking Elk, Albert Lujan, and Juan Mirabal adopted and mastered European painting materials and techniques.

The beginning of his artistic career

Lujan started his adulthood as a farmer. He was also a church deacon. One day Lujan painted a landscape near the church where he had been doing some maintenance. A visitor noticed his painting on a scrap board and appreciated his work. He bought Lujan some painting supplies and purchased one or more of the resulting paintings.

Professional career

Albert Lujan, largely self-taught, began painting around 1915. Throughout his career, he made over 2,000 oil and watercolor paintings. His hallmark was a drawing of an arrow. Lujan enjoyed painted in the plein air (open air) on the plaza. Often customers would purchase paintings they had seen painted. His sole source of inspiration and subject matter for his starkly realistic paintings was the Taos Pueblo village. The paintings were small souveniors, sold for a modest price. As he was painting, his nephew, Bobby Lujan, a later famous hoop dancer, would charge visitors for his hoop dance performances. Whether Lujan painted the pueblo with or without people, there was little or no movement, portraying a timeless snapshot.

Further reading

• Nickens, P; Nickens, K (2008). Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-4836-4.

External links

• "Three Taos Pueblo Painters" by David L. Witt