GUEST POST -- "Broncho Dance" by Minerva Tiechert.

This stunning painting can be found in our very own BYU Museum of Art!

Broncho Dance: A Review

“Broncho Dance” by Minerva Tiechert (1950) portrays Native Americans dancing in a circle, adorned with horse tails, as spectators from the tribe gather in a circle around.  The energy in what appears to be a scene of celebration is unmistakable.  Tichert uses a soft brushstroke, reminiscent of Degas, to over the piece in a dream-like haze.

Tiechert’s choice of composition gives the painting an almost photographic feel.  She captured everything in the middle of motion – she stole a moment in time.  The movement is especially apparent in the sway of the tails and braids of the dancers. The frozen dynamic poses of the dancers and the red background gives the painting an electric, uncomplicated energy. This scene is obviously one that would be full of sensory stimulation.

The artist employed several techniques to draw the viewer’s eye to the focal point in the center of the painting. Unlike in most painting, the images in the foreground are in shadows and have their backs turned, seemingly completely unaware of the viewer.  This serves two purposes: to draw the viewer in and give a sense that they are playing a part in the scene, and to starkly contrast with the brightly exposed dancers in the center ring, highlighting them.

A pole in the center of the dancers helps pull the eye to the center, and the stagnant object accentuates that there is such movement around it. The pole is slightly off-center of the middle of the canvas, but it creates a central point.  Around the pole there appear to be three circular lines that helps the eye perceive a centrifugal motion: the negative space around the pole, the ring of dancers, and the bystanders around the dancers.  Tiechert even painted a tiled frame around the picture, rounded at the top, to reinforce the circular shape of the dancers.

Despite all the round lines and movement, there is a sense of balance and symmetry. The men standing on the sides of the painting, both wearing headdresses, bring vertical lines to the composition. The central pole and offset pole also create a necessary contrast and control.

            Undoubtedly, the artist wanted to place an emphasis on the faces in the image.  The painting is relatively large, and for a painting its size, it is very unusual that there is essentially no landscape on the entire canvas; the composition is entirely of figures. This is a statement honoring humanity, conveying that humanity is important enough, intriguing enough, and sensational enough to paint exclusively. The absence of any landscape helps to channel the raw human emotion emanating from the celebration.  

Tiechert especially emphasized the faces. Faces in the background emerge and fade like ghosts; the people are more like suggestions, with their bodies washing-out into the backdrop of red, but in each the face is distinct enough to recognize.  The heads of the dancers are outlined in white, but it is not so with the rest of their bodies.  The white lines set the faces apart and prevent them from blending in with the rest of the mass of skin, hair, and clothing.  This focus on the face is venerating the part of humans that expresses emotion – the core of humanity.

                   by Paige Anderson   (you can find her over here)