JULES TAVERNIER. Dance in a Subterranean Roundhouse at Clear Lake, California

JULES TAVERNIER (1844-1889)

Dance in a Subterranean Roundhouse at Clear Lake, California

Dance in a Subterranean Roundhouse at Clear Lake, California. Artist: Jules Tavernier (American, born France, 1844-1889). Dimensions: 48 × 72 1/4 in. (121.9 × 183.5 cm). Date: 1878. Parisian-trained artist Jules Tavernier settled in San Francisco, in the 1870s, where he received his most important commission from Tiburcio Parrott, the city's leading banker. During a visit from his Parisian business partner Baron Edmond de Rothschild, in 1876, Parrott was able to obtain entry to a sacred ritual in the Pomo Indian's underground roundhouse at Clear Lake, north of San Francisco. The two men were in the process of acquiring the mineral rich lands of the Pomo Indians, which the tribe had inhabited for generations. Tavernier spent two years working on this recently discovered masterwork, creating a composition of nearly one hundred figures, including two young Pomo male dancers, who, surrounded by the tribe and the white visitors, including Parrott and Rothschild, act out a coming of age ritual. Tavernier renders the light illuminating the dimly lit interior with brilliant technical finesse by means of highly controlled tonal variation and flashes of color to enliven the scene. Upon its completion, Parrott presented the painting to Rothschild, where it remained in their family until present time. The painting captures the very moment when white settlers laid claim to the Pomo lands.

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Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

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4324 x 2580 px | 31.9 MB

36.6 x 21.8 cm | 14.4 x 8.6 in (300 dpi)