Joe Hilario Herrera

Joe Hilario Herrera, transformed traditional Indian painting in the Southwest and served as governor of Cochiti Pueblo.

Herrera began painting beside his mother, Tonita Pena, a prominent San Ildefonso artist, when he was very young. She rewarded him with tubes of paint in return for swatting flies with a dish towel to keep them away from her easel.

From 1934 until 1940, he studied at the Santa Fe Indian School. With other students, he painted murals on the classroom walls and was selected to paint a mural at Maisel's Trading Post in Albuquerque.

Until about 1950, Herrera's paintings, like his mother's, were primarily traditional representations of Pueblo ceremonies. But while working on his degree at the University of New Mexico, his painting career took a major turn.

One of his teachers, Transcendentalist artist,Raymond Jonson, encouraged him to explore modern styles such as cubism. While Herrera continued to explore ritualistic content, he began employing more abstract symbolism. Ultimately, his use of traditional symbols as elements of modern design, called Pueblo Modernism, transformed traditional Indian painting and influenced a whole generation of artists.

His used traditional symbols as elements of modern designs.