Sometimes, the cosmos teaches us humility in more ways than we expect.
And sometimes, it uses the same tools to bring us gifts we don’t expect.
Today’s feature is one that was part of a pair of matched works. The other one remains in Wings’s private collection, but several years ago — back when we still had the gallery in the old village — he decided to put this one up for sale. It’s a stunningly beautiful piece by a Southern Plains master.
We were renting the house that we used as the gallery from another tribal member, one whose family is distantly related to his own. At one point in what was a very hard, wet winter, a leak developed around the window on the wall where this piece hung. We moved it to an area by the fireplace flue to keep it safe . . . and then part of the adjacent wall failed beneath the weight of a three-foot snowfall.
Humbling, indeed.
We were lucky; it didn’t destroy the whole painting, although it did leave a shadow at the top, an artifact of water damage, and the ensuing slide of wet clay did destroy a few other smaller, less valuable items. When we took it down, we discovered that the slide had also punctured the brown butcher paper that lined the back. But the body of this valuable and beautiful work of art was mostly untouched.
That alone was a gift.
There are other gifts that touch, tangentially, upon this painting, too — or, perhaps more accurately, upon the identity of its creator.
The artist is one of our contemporary Native masters, Tim Saupitty, who is Comanche. We didn’t know it then, but he is cousin to a friend of ours, the same friend who was here with his wife visiting the area last week. I would also learn that the artist is a good friend of another Comanche artist, Tim Tate Nevaquaya (son of the famed Doc Tate), who made the Northern crane flute I purchased from him a dozen years ago, a gift for Wings to add to his substantial collection.
It’s a small world, and we are linked more closely than we know.
We are linked, too, to the spirit world, in ways that we can never fully comprehend or even perceive. Today’s featured work similarly hints at those linkages, too, and at what makes them possible. From its description in the Other Artists: Wall Art gallery here on the site:
Renowned Comanche artist Tim Saupitty created a matched pair of air-spray paintings in watercolor hues, images of a man and woman in full traditional dress. The male figure remains in Wings’s private collection; he has put the female figure on offer. Whether viewed as a dancer or a bride, she is wholly traditional, with beaded buckskin cape, light blue shawl, eagle-feather fan, and eagle plume in her long braided hair; the spirits of deer and dragonflies dance all around her. The colors are simultaneous delicate and bold, the stylized human figure the artist’s hallmark; the interplay of light and shadow surrounds her with beauty and mystery and spiritual power. The entire image, including frame, is 38 inches high by 30 inches wide; the visible portion of the painting is 29.5 inches high by 21.25 inches wide (dimensions approximate). Close-up and full views shown below.
Note: This piece sustained mild water damage in the lower left corner and back due to a leak in the 1,000-year-old gallery in which it once hung. It has accordingly been reduced in price by nearly 50%.
Textured paper; air-spray paint; wood frame with glass
$2,500 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Permanent markdown: Reduced to $1,500 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Note: Size and fragility require special handling; extra shipping charges apply
The subject of the painting hints at humility, if indirectly — to the outside world, at least. In our cultures, specific modes of dress bespeak both humility and respect, whether for elders of for the spirits, and that includes traditional regalia: blankets, shawls, even (or perhaps especially) the eagle feather fan. The woman in the painting wears a cape, carries a shawl, and holds a fan, eyes closed perhaps in prayer. In return, she is surrounded by innumerable spirits — deer, dragonflies, butterflies, messengers and helpers, guardians and guides.
This work has managed to emerge from the storm — slightly battered and bruised, but still beautiful, still possessed entirely of its essential identity and integrity. Its subject is one that seems to promise similar blessings, of the capacity to emerge from the troubles and storms of the outside world through prayer and the humble keeping of traditional ways.
We are facing now the storms of a new winter; today’s bitter cold is a reminder of that, and of its raw power. It requires a certain humility to understand it, but a reminder that we are not alone is itself a welcome gift now.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
