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Alma R. Lavenson

San Ildefonso Indians

1940-1985

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Alma R. Lavenson

San Ildefonso Indians

1940-1985

Physical Qualities Gelatin silver print, Sheet: 251 x 202 mm. (9 7/8 x 7 15/16 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Susan Ehrens, Berkeley, California, in Honor of Alma Lavenson
Object Number 1987.253
This image offer an intimate view into life within Indigenous communities based in the southwestern United States. In Wash Day, Taos, New Mexico, clothes dry on a laundry line next to a traditional Pueblo oven used to cook food. In San Ildefonso Indians, a man and woman with penetrating gazes stand outside of an adobe building. The man wears a headband, a style that remains popular among Pueblo men to this day. Both figures wear clothing that blends tradition with styles of the time period. In 1941, photographer Alma Lavenson traveled to New Mexico, visiting Taos and the San Ildefonso Pueblo to photograph the Native communities living there, who have continuously inhabited the area for over a thousand years. Influenced by her time in photography collective Group f/64 (active 1932–1935), Lavenson looked for the high contrast of sunlight and shadows when recording everyday life in sharp focus.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift of Susan Ehrens; by gift of the artist.
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Inscribed: center verso in graphite: "San Ildefonso Indians/Alma Lavenson"; upper left corner: "41/86"

Artist

Alma R. Lavenson

1896–1988

American, 1897-1989
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