Harry Fonseca

Harry Fonseca (1946–28 December 2006) was an American artist. He was born in Sacramento, California.

Fonseca was of Nisenan Maidu, Hawaiian, and Portuguese heritage. His earliest pieces drew from his Maidu heritage. He was influenced by basketry designs, dance regalia, and by his participation as a traditional dancer. Further, the creation myth of his people, as recounted by his uncle, Henry Azbill, became the source of a major 1977 work, "Creation Story". His popular Coyote series placed its canine trickster protagonist in decidedly non-traditional American Indian situations. Fonseca died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, of a brain tumor.

The Albuquerque Museum (Albuquerque, New Mexico), the California State Parks Central Valley Regional Indian Museum (Sacramento, California), Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, California), the Denver Art Museum, the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Western Art (Indianapolis, Indiana), Ethnological Museum of Berlin (Berlin), the Heard Museum (Phoenix, Arizona), the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Hood Museum of Art (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire), the Linden Museum (Stuttgart, Germany), the Monterey Fine Arts Museum (Monterey, California), the New Mexico Museum of Fine Art (Santa Fe, New Mexico), the Oakland Museum of California (Oakland, California), Oguni Museum (Oguni, Japan), the Pequot Museum (Mashantucket, Connecticut), the University Art Museum (Berkeley, California), the Washington State Arts Museum (Olympia, Washington), and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian (Santa Fe, New Mexico) are among the public collections holding work by Harry Fonseca.

References

* [http://www.harryfonseca.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.britesites.com/native_artist_interviews/hfonseca.htm "A Time of Visions"] - an interview with Larry Abbott