Smithsonian American Art Museum
8th and G Streets, NW
Washington, DC
The paintings of Awa Tsireh (1898-1955), also known by his Spanish name, Alfonso Roybal, represent an encounter between the art traditions of native Pueblo peoples in the Southwestern United States and the American modernist art style begun in New York, which spread quickly across the country. It is a story of native and Anglo influences coming together to create an unlikely new hybrid kind of art, one that delighted those who saw it through its unusual blending of cultures.
