San Ildefonso Self-Taught Group

The San Ildefonso Self-Taught Group, was an art movement from 1900–1935 and a group of Native American artists primarily from the San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico. The group consisted of Tonita Peña, Julian Martinez, Alfonso Roybal, Abel Sanchez, Crecencio Martinez, Encarnación Peña, and others. This group was the first known Native American group in the American Southwest to practice easel painting.

Edgar Lee Hewett, a professor of archaeology and the director of the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, was working closely with locals from the San Ildefonso pueblo on excavations. He said that he "discovered" their ability to draw and paint in watercolor. Hewett encouraged the production of art work from Native American artists and helped gain them financial support of white patrons.

The artwork is often composed of the subject matter, Native American ways of life. The work uses flat and using bright colors. It was celebrated as an American way of contemporary abstraction. Artists who tried to veer way from that style were discouraged by their patrons.

During the early 20th century, numerous white Americans became involved in an effort to promote Native American arts within white social circles. Critiques of the San Ildefonso Self-Taught Group have been made by those who study "traditional" Native American art, versus art of Native Americans supported (and perhaps shaped by) white patronage.

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