Provenance:

Private Collection, Minnesota, until 2025.

This engaging drawing is an over life-size portrait of Jose Sotero C. Ortiz (1877–1963), also known as “Oh-pah Too-weh,” who was the Chairman of the Council of all Pueblos and the governor of the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico. This drawing, made ca. 1920, depicts the sitter at a young age.

Capturing her subject in three-quarter profile looking to the left, the artist has expertly handled the charcoal, using an interplay of exposed ground of the paper, degrees of shading, and white heightening to produce this striking image. Small highlights in the sitter’s eyes animate his serene, contemplative expression. The large, feathered headdress fills the upper right of the composition and is rendered with quick, loose strokes that contrast beautifully with the controlled modeling of the face. His clothing is only minimally articulated, which focuses the viewer’s attention on his face.

The author of this drawing, Antoinette DeForest Parsons Merwin, is primarily known as a painter of genre, landscapes, and still-life scenes. Following her studies at the Art Students League in New York and the St. Paul School of Fine Arts in Minnesota, Antoinette spent a period in Paris studying with Gustave Courtois, Raphaël Collin, and James McNeill Whistler. One of her works received an honorable mention at the Paris Salon of 1900. Our charcoal drawing is a rare example of her artistic output, highlighting both her talents as a draughtswoman and a portraitist.