This is a small etching, with the image area at about 11in x 7in, depicting a ramada, or structure for shade, set in the Taos Pueblo region of New Mexico.  It is unframed and unsigned. It is in very good condition overall.  Minor tears along the border edge have been stabilized with archival tape.

Edward Borein (1872–1945) was one of a handful of early Western artists who was actually born in the West. As a young man he roamed the western states and territories and much of Mexico, working as a cowboy and using his artistic talent to record these experiences. Developing a deep affection for the West, and nurtured by his free lifestyle as a cowboy, he soon became known as a facile and spontaneous recorder of cowboy and Indian life.

In his early thirties Borein decided to pursue a career as a professional artist and moved to New York City, where his studio soon became a favorite haunt for important figures such as Will Rogers, Charles M. Russell, Carl Oscar Borg and Buffalo Bill Cody.

Borein returned to his native California, married, and set up a permanent studio in Santa Barbara in 1921. His etchings, watercolors, and drawings quickly earned him a reputation as one of the foremost interpreters of the American West, and few artists have done so as accurately and skillfully as Borein.

While desert conditions are often inhospitable, people have lived in the Sonoran Desert since at least 5,500 B.C.E. Before there was air conditioning, indigenous peoples -- such as the Akimel O’odham and Tohono O’odham -- lived, traveled, and harvested food here.

To create shade in the desert, they built ramadas: four-legged, roofed structures without walls. In O’odham, a structure like this is called a “wa:ato” (pronounced WAH-a-to). What does the Sonoran Desert offer for long, strong building blocks to make a wa:ato? Mesquite, and the woody skeletons of saguaro and ocotillo. Wa:ato roofs were commonly made with ocotillo and held up by a mesquite frame. To tie these woody pieces together, people often used rope made from agave or yucca fibers.

Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States. This has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Taos Pueblo is a member of the Eight Northern Pueblos. A tribal land of 95,000 acres (38,000 ha) is attached to the pueblo, and about 4,500 people live in this area.

It is most likely that the Taos Indigenous people, along with other Pueblo Indigenous people, settled along the Rio Grande after migrating south from the Four Corners region.