Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Pueblo Parrot Dance
Tonita Peña Pueblo
Not on view
Peña created hundreds of genre paintings focused on Pueblo dances that were open to the public, appealing to the period interest in cultural preservation. Watercolor and gouache, popular among Pueblo artists during the late 1920s and early 1930s, facilitated a precision that endowed her paintings with a documentary style, reinforcing their appearance as records of observed events. The untouched background of Pueblo Parrot Dance is common in Peña’s paintings and reflects a specific understanding of the world. When a dance is performed, the sacred site of the dance and its surroundings are activated; by leaving the background blank, Peña essentially neutralized the space that the figures occupy, adhering to Pueblo values.
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