Albert Looking Elk

Albert, the son of José R. Martínez, was commonly known by his Taos name, T'o'nu, meaning "Looking Elk."

[1] Albert Looking Elk was a model, initially reluctantly, to E. Irving Couse, one of the Taos Society of Artists founding members.

An exhibition of their work "Three Pueblo Painters" was held at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos in 2003.

The Pueblo, at some places five stories high, is a combination of many individual homes with common walls.

The Taos Pueblo was added as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 as one of the most significant historical cultural landmarks in the world; Other sites include the Taj Mahal, Great Pyramids and the Grand Canyon in the United States.

[4] For centuries, Pueblo painters have painted in tempera, clay slips, and earth pigments on woven textiles, interior walls, ceramics, and hides[5] Looking Elk, Albert Lujan, and Juan Mirabal adopted and mastered European painting materials and techniques.

[2] Looking Elk took art lessons and by 1917 received his first set of painting equipment of oils, easel, brushes and canvas from Oscar E. Berninghaus, a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists.