Taos Winter Night

T. C. Cannon, Ka'igwu / Caddo / Choctaw / American, 1946 - 1978
Caddo
Ka'igwu (Kiowa)
Choctaw
Southern Plains
Plains

Share

1977

Graphite and acrylic on paper

Image: 18 × 13 in. (45.7 × 33 cm)

Frame: 28 1/4 × 22 1/4 in. (71.8 × 56.5 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through a gift from the Class of 1971

2019.77

Geography

Place Made: United States, North America

Period

20th century

Object Name

Painting

Research Area

Native American

Painting

Native American: Plains

Not on view

Inscriptions

Signed and dated, lower right: Cannon '77

Label

Painted a year before T. C. Cannon’s early death at age 31, this work on paper depicts a winter scene at Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. A figure at the center is bundled in a blanket; in the background, a snow-covered mountain stands below a sky illuminated by golden, iridescent stars. This spherical repetition is reminiscent of the sunspots Cannon often included in the backgrounds of his paintings, mimicking what participants in a Sun Dance ceremony would see after staring into the sunlight to receive cleansing and renewal. The deep purple paired with the quiet of winter makes for a romantic scene reflective of Cannon’s poetic tendencies.

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art


Course History

ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 5–July 22, 2022.

Provenance

T. Turner Pope, III, Houston, TX, 1994; to Zaplin Lampert Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 1994; sold to private collection, 2000; sold to private collection, Dallas, TX, 2016; sold to Zaplin Lampert Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 2019; sold to present collection, 2019

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu