Julian Martinez

Julián Martínez, also known as Pocano (1879–1943), was a San Ildefonso Pueblo potter, painter, and the patriarch of a family of Native American ceramic artists in the United States.

Background Martínez was born in 1879 in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. His name, Pocano, means "Coming of the Spirits" in Tewa. He worked as a farmer, general laborer, and janitor, in addition to being an artist. He was elected governor of San Ildefonso.

Martínez married matriarch potter Maria Martinez, and together they had a son Popovi Da, who was also a potter. Maria is considered the preeminent creator of San Ildefonso blackware pottery; however Julian's exclusive painting of those jars contributed to her accomplishments. Their son Popovi became a stellar innovator in Pueblo ceramic arts and his collaborative work with Maria is at the height of their collected pottery.

Martinez died on March 6, 1943, in San Ildefonso Pueblo.

Martínez with help from anthropologist Edgar Lee Hewett researched historical designs and reproduced them on the pottery, later modifying classical Pueblo designs to create his own.

Martínez was also an easel painter. He painted murals at the former Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.

Public collections The artwork of Maria and Julian Martinez can be found in the following public collections.

American Museum of Natural History, New York Amerind Foundation, Dragoon, Arizona Amon Carter Museum of Art, Fort Worth, Texas Arizona State Museum, Tucson Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio Cleveland Museum of Fine Arts, Ohio Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire Denver Art Museum, Colorado Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Norman, Oklahoma Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, New Mexico Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe Museum of Northern Arizona, Katherine Harvey Collection, Flagstaff National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center, New York National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C. Newark Museum, Newark, NJ Owensboro Museum of Fine Arts, Owensboro, Kentucky Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma Riverside Museum, New York School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. Southwest Museum of the American Indian, Los Angeles University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico