Pueblo Street Market, 1920s

Z. S. Liang, born in China and raised in a family of artists, was first published at age 6 in a children’s magazine. His art education spanned two continents, beginning at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing and continuing at the Massachusetts College of Art and Boston University. Liang encountered his first great inspiration in this country while studying and painting the Wampanoag Indians in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He began to focus his painting primarily on Native American cultures and their traditional way of life. Liang's passion for the Indians as a people, coupled with his emphasis on historical accuracy, imbues his portraits of them with strength and truth. Liang’s inspiration for "Pueblo Street Market, 1920s" was the Beale Wagon Road across New Mexico and Arizona which was opened to automobile traffic in 1926 and renamed the National Trails Highway Route 66. Entrepreneur Fred Harvey, capitalizing on the newly available roadways, offered “Indian Detours” of the Southwest. One of the most popular packages was a trip in a Packard touring car (or “Harveycar”) into the pueblos, where the tourists could enjoy the landscape and architecture and shop in the markets. The original painting was Liang’s entry in the prestigious, by-invitation-only Masters of the American West Fine Art Exhibition and Sale.