Merrill Quannie "Mimbres Life" St II — Lithograph 38/50, Signed 

"Mimbres Life" State II is a color lithograph by Acoma Pueblo and Hopi artist Merrill F. Quannie (1955–1997), completed in 1989 and issued in a closed edition of 50. Quannie drew his visual language from the painted pottery of the ancient Mimbres people — whose black-on-white animal and geometric designs rank among the most distinctive artistic traditions of the prehistoric Southwest — and transformed that inheritance into a fully contemporary graphic vocabulary. The composition turns on a sweeping circular mandala populated with interlocking stylized fish, deer, birds, and dense geometric patterning in teal, peach, mauve, and cream against a cool lithographic gray. Kokopelli figures animate the stepped pueblo terraces in the foreground as botanical forms trail the border, anchoring the image simultaneously in the archaeological record and in a living Pueblo world.

Numbered 38 from the closed edition of 50, with the State II designation marking a discrete stage in the print's development. Signed in pencil lower right, with a personal dedication to Sam Benevento and ©1989 copyright notation in the lower margin. Quannie's work enters the permanent collections of the Albuquerque Museum — which holds impression 28/50 of this exact print — and the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, placing "Mimbres Life" among his most institutionally recognized compositions. Presented in a silver metal frame with cream and black double mat, behind glass.

CONDITION

Very Good. No remarkable damage. Colors register with full saturation and clean edge definition; margins are intact with no foxing, toning, or moisture history. Frame and double mat present without notable wear.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall (Framed): 31" H × 24.25" W × 1" D
• Visible Image: 24.75" H × 18" W
• Medium: Color lithograph on paper
• Edition: 38/50
• State: II
• Date: 1989
• Artist: Merrill F. Quannie (Acoma Pueblo/Hopi, 1955–1997)
• Title: "Mimbres Life" St II
• Dedication: To Sam Benevento
• Signature: Pencil, lower right
• Framed: Yes — silver metal frame, cream/black double mat, glass
• Collections: Albuquerque Museum (ed. 28/50); Philbrook Museum of Art

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Merrill F. Quannie (1955–1997) was a Native American artist of Haak'u (Acoma Pueblo) and Hopi Pueblo heritage, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Working primarily in ink drawing and color lithography, he built a sustained body of work around the iconographic traditions of the ancient Mimbres culture and the broader Pueblo world — subjects he rendered with a graphic precision that earned him institutional recognition during his short career. His work entered the permanent collections of the Albuquerque Museum and the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa. He died in 1997 at the age of forty-two, leaving a small and carefully defined body of prints and drawings that continues to attract Southwest art collectors.