Velino Shije Herrera - Buffalo Hunt

A thundering line of mounted hunters sweeps toward a dark mass of buffalo, the whole scene held between bands of Pueblo geometric ornament. Velino Shije Herrera (Ma Pe Wi, 1902–1973) of Zia Pueblo was one of the defining voices of early twentieth-century Native American painting, and Buffalo Hunt shows why: flat, glowing colour, spare line, and a sense of motion that carries right across the sheet.

Rare on the secondary market

This is a print you will not stumble across twice. Copies almost never surface for sale, and at the time of listing we could find only a single damaged example offered anywhere online. A vintage 1981 impression of this size, printed in Italy for the New York Graphic Society and still intact, is genuinely scarce. Herrera is a pioneer of the Santa Fe Studio School, named in the same breath as Fred Kabotie and Awa Tsireh, and his original Buffalo Hunt paintings have brought strong prices at auction, which makes a period print like this one a rare and affordable way to own the image.

About this print

• Artist: Velino Shije Herrera (Ma Pe Wi), Zia Pueblo, New Mexico, 1902–1973
• Paper size: 29 1/4 × 22 1/2 in.
• Image size: 18 × 25 1/4 in.
• Published by New York Graphic Society Ltd., Greenwich CT, copyright 1981
• Printed in Italy, with the NYGS imprint and copyright line printed on the sheet
• Reproduced after the original in the collection of The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson
• Artist name, title and museum credit are printed along the bottom margin, as shown in the close-up photos

Living with it

The warm earth palette and strong horizontal rhythm make this a natural anchor over a sideboard, a mantel, or a long hallway wall. It sits beautifully with wood, leather, woven textiles, and other Southwest work, and it holds its own just as well against plain white walls in a modern room.

Shipped rolled in a protective tube, ready for your framer.