Jar

Inscriptions

Marks: "Marie" on base

Label

Native women potters have long been innovators of method and form, and this holds especially true for Puebloan ceramics. Maria Martinez gained international recognition in the early 20th century for her perfection of blackware pottery together with her husband, Julian Martinez. Most often, Maria formed and polished the elegant vessels and Julian applied the decoration. Therefore, it is likely that pieces now attributed to Maria or Julian were most likely created by both of them. Although Maria and Julian Martinez occasionally created redware vessels or those with colored designs, they are most known for their matte black decorations on polished black surfaces. The popularity of their pottery can be attributed to the ease with which the smooth, geometric shapes matched the art deco style of design of the 1930s and 1940s—or, as Maria simply put it, “Black goes with everything."

From the 2025 exhibition Always Already: Abstraction in the United States, curated by John Stomberg, Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961 Director; Jami Powell, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Indigenous Art; and Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. and Harvey P. Hood 1918 Senior Curator of Academic Programing

Exhibition History

Always Already: Abstraction in the United States, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 26,2025.

Resonance and Inspiration: New Works by Magdalene Odundo [in conjunction with], Gene Y. Kim Class of 1985 Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 30-October 14, 2007.

Survival/Art/History: American Indian Collections from the Hood Museum of Art, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 18, 2000-April 7, 2002.

Publication History

[Tamara Northern], "Native American Art". Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, page 44. (Published in conjunction with Gutman Gallery opening exhibition)

Provenance

Collected by Harold Goddard Rugg (1883-1957), in Tucson, Arizona, 1938; given to present collection, 1955.

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Subjects