Awa Tsireh – Kim & Pat Messier's Blog

Strausenback as Artist, Part II: Lithographs and Etchings

This blog is adapted from Chapter 7: “Trader as Artist” in our book Garden of the Gods Trading Post. This series of three blogs not only expands on the information in our book, but also reproduces the artwork in color since the book was printed in black-and-white.

Charles Strausenback, founder of Garden of the Gods Trading Post, had been painting and drawing from a young age. But in the summer of 1938 he began working in a new medium, and produced a series of limited-edition lithographs and etchings over the next two years. The decision to make prints over original artwork was likely driven by economics; whereas his paintings sold for about $35 each, lithos could be sold for the more appealing price of $7.50 for small prints up to $12.50 for the largest.

The lithographs were produced in editions ranging from twenty prints per image to editions as large as fifty impressions. Landscapes from Garden of the Gods were frequent subjects of Strausenback’s artwork.

*This print titled* Gateway and Pikes Peak *was Charles Strausenback’s first lithograph. On the bottom of the artist’s proof he noted in pencil, “1st Litho I ever made Aug 1938.” (Courtesy Private Collection)*

*Litho number 3 depicts* Cathedral Spires in Garden of the Gods.

*Charles Strausenback’s fourth litho subject was* Balanced Rock, made in 1938. A self-taught artist, he frequently copied his subjects from photographs and postcards, as was the case with this view.

It’s tempting to speculate Strausenback had his lithographs inked and pulled by Out West Printing and Stationary Company, as they were the only company listed under the “Lithographing” section of the 1938 Colorado Springs city directory. But none of the prints have yet provided a source for the printer.

The lithographs encompass a series of forty-five unique illustrations, depicting scenes from the Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak and scenic venues around Colorado Springs, also landscapes of Arizona including Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and the Superstition Mountains, as well as New Mexico adobes, and even San Juan Capistrano Mission in California.

*Strausenback depicted the Grand Canyon, as viewed from the South Rim, in two different styles in the lithographs above and below. This print, number 10 titled* Grand Canyon shows a traditional view of the canyon.

*This print is number 15, also titled* Grand Canyon, and is Strausenback’s modern rendition with simplistic flat mesa tops and the Colorado River flowing like a ribbon through the middle of the scene. Both prints were made in 1938.

*Number S-40,* Adobes, depicts a New Mexico scene in sepia tone and was produced in a series of 30 prints.

In 1936 the Strausenbacks began spending winter months in Phoenix, Arizona, and desert landscapes became a subject of Charles’s artwork. Many desert scenes were depicted in his lithos, actually surpassing the Colorado scenes in quantity, these were sold from the Strausenback Indian Silver Shops in Phoenix.

*Litho number S-45 is a sepia toned print depicting the Superstition Mountains, on the outskirts of Phoenix, under a night sky.*

*These lithos were printed two-up on the same piece of paper and were never separated. On the left is number 20, titled* Yucca, on the right is number 21 Saguaro.

Additionally, Strausenback made portraits of the Navajo and Pueblo Indians who worked for him; Awa Tsireh, Severo Tafoya, and Porfilia Tafoya were among his subjects.

*Number 14, titled* Monument Valley depicts the Arizona landscape as a modern design.

To accommodate the tourist market accustomed to purchasing postcard souvenirs of their visits to Garden of the Gods, Charles Strausenback produced a series of five scratchboard prints of scenes from the Pikes Peak region that sold at budget prices. Approximately postcard-sized, these prints were not signed by Strausenback and were printed in editions of 100.

*A series of five scratchboard postcard-sized prints, numbers 34* Gateway, 35 Garden of the Gods, 36 Pikes Peak, 37 Balanced Rock, and 39 Will Roger’s Shrine were not hand signed but were titled and numbered in pencil.

Cowboy themes used in his very first paintings reemerged in Strausenback’s art as he made prints of a speeding stagecoach, cowboys on bucking broncs, and western towns.

*Number 38,* Soapy Williams Rides Firefly was copied from a popular postcard entitled “Soapy Williams on Glass Eye.”

*Number 45A, titled* Out West “Before the Gay 90’s” *is the only color lithograph Charles Strausenback ever created. The sign on the train station appears to read “Espanola”, a town close to Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico.*

Along with the lithographs Strausenback also experimented with copper plate etchings, and a small series were made with subjects such as Navajos and Plains Indians, Garden of the Gods, and the mountains near Phoenix.

*This etching, titled* Navajos, depicts two men in traditional dress. The subjects are placed in a spatial void in the style typical of American Indian easel art of the early 20th century.

Each lithograph or etching was originally accompanied by a small green-colored paper certificate with the title of the print and the size of the edition hand written in pencil by Strausenback. Few of these have survived to the present.

These lithographs and etchings provide evidence that Strausenback was a talented, if underrated, artist, not just an astute businessman.

Strausenback’s lithos were numbered in the image in the order that they were created. The series number and a capital S for Strausenback were drawn into the image, typically in the bottom right corner, hidden among the elements of the subject matter. The etchings were not identified in the same fashion. The lithos were typically hand signed in the following fashion:

*Title of the illustration in the bottom left corner, this print is* “Awa Tsireh” San Ildefonso Pueblo.

*In the middle is the number of the litho followed by the size of the edition. In this instance 14/S-20 indicates the print is number 14 of an edition of 20 sepia toned prints.*

*The bottom right corner of series S-26* “Awa Tsireh,” San Ildefonso Pueblo in sepia tone showing the capital S for Strausenback and series number 26 inscribed into the image above his signature.

Below is a chart of the series number, title and edition size of Charles Strausenback’s prints as known at present. One print, Mount Holy Cross, Colo has not yet had its series number recorded.

Series No	Title	Edition Size
1	Gateway and Pikes Peak	25
2	South Cheyenne Canyon
3	Cathedral Spires	25
4	Balanced Rock	25
5	Superstition Mountains	30
6	If This Isn’t Pike’s Peak	30
7
8
9	Pikes Peak from Woodland Park	30
10	Grand Canyon	50
11	San Juan Capistrano	50
12	Mountain Valley	25
13	San Xavier Mission – Ariz.	50
14	Monument Valley, Ariz	25
15	Grand Canyon	30
16	Painted Desert, Arizona	30
17
18	Superstition Mountain- Ariz.	50
19	Santiago Naranjo	50
20	Yucca	50
21	Saguaro	50
22	Camelback Mountain Ariz	50
23
24
25	“Ca-Ping” Pueblo Indian
S-25	“Ca-Ping” Pueblo Indian, sepia	20
26	“Awa Tsireh” San Ildefonso Pueblo	50
S-26	“Awa Tsireh” San Ildefonso Pueblo, sepia	20
27	Pottery Seller	50
28	“O-See-Thune” Pueblo woman 108 years old	50
29	Gertrude Silver, Navajo Princess	50
30	Corn Dance	50
31	Gateway & Pikes Peak	40
S-31	Gateway & Pikes Peak, Sepia	30
32	Balanced Rock	40
S-32	Balanced Rock, sepia	30
33	Out West “Before The Gay 90’s”	30
34	Gateway, scratchboard	100
35	Garden of Gods, scratchboard	100
36	Pike’s Peak, scratchboard	100
37	Balanced Rock, scratchboard	100
38	Soapy Williams Rides Firefly	50
39	Will Roger’s Shrine, scratchboard	100
40	Adobes	20
S-40	Adobes, sepia	30
41	Wind Harps, Timberline
S-42	In Before Dark, sepia	35
43	Out West “Before The Gay ’90’s”
44	Desert Sunset	40
S-45	Superstition Mountains at Night, sepia	30
45A	Out West “Before The Gay ’90’s”, color	31
unknown	Mt. Holy Cross, Colo
	Superstition Mt, Ariz, etching	40
	Navajos, etching	35
	Buffalo Hunt, etching	35
	Camel Back Mt Ariz, etching	35
	Gateway, miniature, etching

Strausenback As Artist, Part III: Trading Post Murals

This blog is adapted from Chapter 6: “A Lifetime in the Garden” in our book Garden of the Gods Trading Post. This series of three blogs not only expands on the information in our book, but also reproduces the artwork in color since the book was printed in black-and-white.

When Garden of the Gods Trading Post opened in 1929 Charles Strausenback’s skills as an artist were put to good use. He painted a large version of his company logo on the porch façade.

Left, hand tinted postcard showing the porch of the Trading Post in 1929. Right, original artwork sent to the US Copyright Office in 1926 of a Tewa Thunderbird attacking a rattlesnake painted by Charles Strausenback, adapted from a painting by Awa Tsireh. The copyright was granted and this logo was used for Strausenback’s business Garden of the Gods Curio Company and later for the Trading Post. Courtesy Garden of the Gods Trading Post.

He also painted murals on the exterior porch walls depicting Navajo, Hopi, Zuni and Rio Grande Pueblo figures.

*Garden of the Gods Trading Post photographed by the authors in 2019 showing the murals painted on the porch walls.*

These murals were copied from other artist’s work, for example the mural painted by the left side door of a Pueblo woman emerging from a kiva is a copy of a painting by San Ildefonso artist Awa Tsireh, now in the collection of the Firestone Library at Princeton University, https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2015/08/30/awa-tsireh-1898-1955/.

Additionally the Zuni Shalako figure painted between two windows was copied from a 1900 painting by Mary Wright Gill reproduced in the 23^rd Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology 1901-1902.

The other murals depict a Navajo sandpainting of Yei figures, and a Hopi sunface kachina.

These murals are signed Tong Say Ontya 1929. Evidence suggests this was a name used infrequently by Charles Strausenback on his artwork.

More proof of the use of this pseudonym by Strausenback is this opaque watercolor painting of a Pueblo corn dance signed “Tong Say Ontya 1933.” Below the painted signature is Strausenback’s name and 1933 written in pencil.

Pueblo Corn Dance painting signed “Tong Say Ontya 1933” and also signed in pencil “Strausenback 1933.” (Private Collection)

The painting style is consistent with Strausenback’s as indicated by the below lithograph entitled Corn Dance made by Strausenback in 1939. The litho is nearly identical to the 1933 painting, except for the added background, to indicate they were made by the same artist.

Strausenback’s talent was also utilized on the fireplace constructed in the interior of the trading post. Tiles designed by Awa Tsireh, and made from commercial clay at a factory in Denver were inlaid in the surface and Strausenback painted Navajo Yei figures and a Pueblo cloud design on the front.

The Metalwork of Awa Tsireh

Sepia-toned lithograph of Awa Tsireh made by Charles Strausenback ca 1930s. — *Sepia-toned lithograph of Awa Tsireh made by Charles Strausenback ca 1930s*.

San Ildefonso artist Awa Tsireh (Alfonso Roybal) is best known as an early master of Pueblo painting; but in his lifetime he also gained renown as a silversmith.

Awa Tsireh (pronounced Ah-wah Sid-ee or See-day) was born in 1898 to Juan Estevan and Alfonsita Martinez Roybal; he was the eldest of six children. He drew sketches of dances and animals even before attending San Ildefonso Day School where the teacher provided drawing supplies. He did not continue his education after leaving the day school, and his drawing and painting skills were mostly self-taught; though he also learned from watching his uncle Crescencio Martinez who used watercolors to paint dancers on paper in the mid-1910s for Edgar Lee Hewitt. As a young man Awa Tsireh (Cat-tail Bird) painted the decorations on the pottery his mother made.

Modernist painting of Deer Dancer by Awa Tsireh. — *Modernist painting of Deer Dancer by Awa Tsireh*.

In the summer of 1917 Santa Fe poet Alice Corbin Henderson was introduced to Awa Tsireh’s paintings and she became his first patron and promoter. Awa Tsireh’s fame grew nationally in the 1920s prompting a successful one-man show in Chicago; he also painted most of the illustrations for the book Tewa Firelight Tales by Ahlee James published in 1927. In 1931 Awa Tsireh joined with other San Ildefonso artists, including Maria Martinez, Tonita Roybal and Abel Sanchez (Oqwa Pi), to exhibit their works at the Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts in New York City.

Awa Tsireh’s paintings of pueblo dancers and mythology, including black-and-white striped clowns (or kossa) and animals like skunks, owls, and turkeys were meticulously and precisely drawn in both realistic and modernistic styles. Animal forms such as skunks, roadrunners, and owls were also favored subjects of his silverwork.

Silver pins made by Awa Tsireh. — *Silver pins made by Awa Tsireh* .

It is not known when or from whom Awa Tsireh learned silversmithing but by 1931 he was described in a newspaper article as a painter and, “also a mural painter, a silversmith and a dancer.”

Round copper tray by Awa Tsireh. — *Round copper tray by Awa Tsireh*.

John Adair reported in his 1944 book The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths that Awa Tsireh was only one of three men in San Ildefonso who worked silver, and that he made pieces in his studio for the tourists who visited the pueblo. However, it was at Garden of the Gods Trading Post in Colorado Springs where the majority of his metalwork was made.

Garden of the Gods Trading Post ca 1930s. — *Garden of the Gods Trading Post ca 1930s*.

Garden of the Gods Trading Post was built in 1929 by Charles E. Strausenback, and is still in operation in the same building on the southern boundary of the Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs.

Postcard of Awa Tsireh dressed in Plains attire at Colorado Springs. — *Postcard of Awa Tsireh dressed in Plains attire at Colorado Springs*.

Awa Tsireh’s association with Garden of the Gods Trading Post had begun by 1930 and continued for at least two decades. His sister Santana Martinez recalled that “during the summer during the thirties and forties he used to go to a shop in Colorado Springs and do his paintings and silverwork there” (Seymour, When the Rainbow Touches Down). He was the most prominent of the many silversmiths who worked at the trading post over the decades; which included Hosteen Goodluck, William Goodluck and David Taliman.

*Copper crumb tray in the shape of a cloud made by Awa Tsireh.*

Awa Tsireh’s metalwork did not go without notice, as in 1938, when the Hutchinson, Kansas News-Herald, while reporting on the impending nuptials of a local couple, exclaimed:

Spell it Awa Tsireh—pronounce it A-Wa Si-dy! Whoever he is, he’s the Indian silversmith responsible for that symbolical silver plate which Elizabeth and Joe, to wed today, will give choice place in their household. Of about luncheon size, the plate center is beaten and etched with a god to watch over them, and filled in about and on the rim with emblems of wisdom, constancy, love and happiness. There is no other plate like it and there won’t be for the famous “Awa Sidy” never duplicates. Of New Mexico originally, he’s now collaborating with Charles E. Strausenback in a museum at the Garden of the Gods. The gorgeous silver bracelets which Elizabeth often wears are his work.

Round aluminum tray with Knifewing figure design by Awa Tsireh. — *Round aluminum tray with Knifewing figure design by Awa Tsireh*.

He split his efforts between painting and silversmithing during these years and in 1939 was commissioned to paint a mural on the front of the newly erected building to house Maisel’s Indian Trading Post in downtown Albuquerque. The trading post is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Awa Tsireh’s mural of a corn dance is still on view on the building’s facade.

Mural painted by Awa Tsireh on the front of Maisel's Indian Store in Albuquerque. — *Mural painted by Awa Tsireh on the front of Maisel’s Indian Store in Albuquerque*.

When it came to metalworking, Awa Tsireh worked in many mediums, not only in silver but also copper, nickel silver and aluminum. What has been written about Awa Tsireh’s paintings is also true of his metalwork, he was precise and meticulous and a master artist. His work shows magnificently designed and stamped elements and elegant repoussé work. He helped transform the metalwork made at Garden of the Gods from typical tourist style jewelry—with figural stamps of thunderbirds, arrows and whirling logs popular at the time— into pieces of art, most evident in the trays and pins that he produced.

Spoon, concho pin, matchbook holder, pill box and V for Victory pin all made by Awa Tsireh. — *Spoon, concho pin, matchbook holder, pill box and V for Victory pin all made by Awa Tsireh*.

Awa Tsireh made a variety of forms during his silversmithing career including bracelets, pins, rings, trays, bowls and concho belts. His work is signed AWA TSIREH and most often with one of the Garden of the Gods shop marks such as SOLID SILVER. Pieces that are only signed with his name, which are rare, were likely made at his studio in San Ildefonso. Items bearing shop marks from the Garden of the Gods Trading Post, but lacking the hallmark for Awa Tsireh, are not of the same quality of work as pieces signed with his name. Consequently, only those pieces bearing his hallmark AWA TSIREH can confidently be credited as his work.

Filed and stamped silver bracelet by Awa Tsireh. — *Filed and stamped silver bracelet by Awa Tsireh*.

His production of paintings and silverwork slowed after World War II, but Awa Tsireh continued to work. In 1954 he was awarded the French government’s Ordre des Palmes Académiques for “distinguished contributions to education or culture” along with eleven other Indian artists including Ambrose Roanhorse, Maria Martinez, Fred Kabotie, Alan Houser and Pablita Velarde.

Though he traveled fairly often, especially in summer, he always made the village of San Ildefonso his main residence. Awa Tsireh died tragically from exposure on the outskirts of San Ildefonso on March 29, 1955. He was memorialized a few months later by the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe with an exhibit of forty-three examples of his paintings.

Porch of Garden of the Gods Trading Post ca 1930s. — *Porch of Garden of the Gods Trading Post ca 1930s*.

The foregoing was derived from our book Reassessing Hallmarks of Native Southwest Jewelry: Artists, Traders, Guilds, and the Government, and originally published on our Goodreads.com blog June 30, 2016.