Albert Looking Elk

Albert Looking Elk ( – November 30, 1940), also known as Albert Martinez, was a Taos Pueblo painter. Looking Elk is one of the three Taos Pueblo Painters.

Background Albert, the son of José R. Martínez, was commonly known by his Taos name, T'o'nu, meaning "Looking Elk." He was born around 1888 in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. In 1900, he modeled for Oscar E. Berninghaus, one of the founding members of Taos Society of Artists. By 1915, after receiving a Christmas present of paints and brushes and painting lessons from Berninghaus, Looking Elk began his own art career.

Looking Elk was elected Governor of Taos Pueblo in 1938. For centuries, Pueblo painters have painted in tempera, clay slips, and earth pigments on woven textiles, interior walls, ceramics, and hides Looking Elk, Albert Lujan, and Juan Mirabal adopted and mastered European painting materials and techniques.