Francisco & Crucita

     Sharp painted this scene of Crucita and her son Francisco in 1913. It was sold later that year to Phoebe Hearst for $750, more than twice what his portraits of Indians had cost. His patron was probably interested in the painting as much because of the artifacts pictured as for the portrayal of a mother and son. Crucita is attired in an old Hopi dress, a bright red companion sash and a pink, cotton blanket. Next to her is what looks like a San Ildefanso pot and she holds a black wear vessel from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in her right hand.

 

     Sharp had just begun to use Crucita as a model at this time, and this is one of a couple very early portraits of her. Another single portrait of Crucita, exhibited in Cincinnati that fall, presented her in the same dress and in profile. It was highly prized by the press for its "decorative scheme" and "harmonious arrangement of simple lines and pleasing colors." (Commercial Tribune, 11/23/1913) (Record 696)

 

     A decade later, in 1924, Sharp worked on another version of the same scene, Crucita in the Garden Door. (related image 202a) This time it included only Crucita. Francisco has been replaced with towering hollyhocks which had grown up in Sharp’s garden and he more carefully articulated the distant Picuris Peak with its green meadows and verdant pine forests. The old Hopi dress was replaced with more modern garments, the palette is far more diverse and richly hued and the afternoon light is radiant and breathable. This work was purchased by one of Sharp’s new type of patrons, tourists (in this case, the Louis Sands family from Glendale, Arizona) who stopped by his studio to meet the painter and buy a representative example of his work.

 

Peter H. Hassrick