Holy Woman

Henry Balink first traveled to Taos, New Mexico in 1917 and was fascinated by the Native American culture he discovered there. "Balink immediately set out to document the American Indian in paint, and eventually he developed a considerable reputation not only for his work, but also for his energetic activity. According to one source, he painted from life Indians from sixty-three different tribes. In the meantime, he decided to make Taos his permanent home, and his prior artistic training enabled him to render the people, ceremonies, and everyday objects of the New Mexico region with extreme fidelity and technical brilliance. In 1927, four years after he settled in Taos, Balink was commissioned to paint Oklahoma's principal Indian chiefs, a task that occupied him for several years." (R. Stewart, The American West: Legendary Artists of the Frontier, Dallas, Texas, 1986, p. 153)