"God gave me
that hand, but not for myself, for all my people."
- Maria Martinez
The MacNider Museum's collection of American
ceramics includes three pieces of San Ildefonso black-on-black
pottery by Maria Martinez and members of her large extended family.
Maria, as she came to be known, achieved world fame for the
technique she and her husband, Julian, developed for black pottery
with both matte and glossy finishes.
A member of the Native American Tewa tribe,
Maria was born at San Ildefonso Pueblo about 25 miles northwest
of Santa Fe. By the time she married Julian Martinez, she was
a respected potter and had exhibited her work at the 1904 St.
Louis World's Fair. Maria and Julian initially made pottery
in the polychrome (multi-colored) style popular with San Idelfonso
potters in the late 1800s, for use in the pueblo and for the
tourist market that flourished with the completion of the railroad
to Santa Fe in 1880. Maria shaped and polished the pots; Julian
gradually mastered the art of painting them.
Known as one of the pueblo's most skilled
potters, Maria was asked in 1908 by Dr. Edgar Lee Hewett, director
of the Museum of New Mexico, if she could create reproductions
of ancient black pottery uncovered at nearby archeological sites.
Around 1918, the couple perfected a technique for producing distinctive
black-on-black pottery, in which black designs are visible against
a shiny black background. Maria hand-coiled and carefully burnished
the pots, while Julian painted the designs in clay slip, carrying
on their long collaboration. After Julian died in 1943, other
family members continued to work with Maria. She remained active
as a potter and a member of her community until her death in
1980.
Maria is also credited with helping to
establish the practice of signing Pueblo pottery in the 1920s.
Trilingual in Tewa, Spanish and English, Maria signed her work
in a variety of ways to appeal to her audience. The large black-on-black
plate in the MacNider's collection is signed Marie and Julian.
On the base of the small bowl she has signed Maria Poveka,
her name in the Tewa language of San Ildefonso. The remaining
piece of San Ildefonso pottery in the museum's collection is
by Anita Martinez, Maria's granddaughter.
