Untitled Diné (Navajo) Painting of Woman on Mule [SOLD]

Born in 1926, Diné (Navajo) artist Charles Lee, or Yel-Ha-Yah (“Warrior Who Came Out”), developed a fascination with horses. An attendee of the Santa Fe Indian School, Lee was highly influenced by Harrison Begay, another of the legendary Navajo painters.

In her book, Southwest Indian Painting: A Changing Art, Clara Lee Tanner says that Lee’s paintings “combined the reality of his life with his imagination…” Lee hit the height of his career around 1948. He also became a reverend so that he could minister to his own people on the Navajo Reservation.

This piece depicts a Navajo woman on a mule on a hilltop. Like many other Navajo paintings, the background of the painting has a delicate Asian-like style about it exuding a wonderful serenity.

Condition: The painting is in original excellent condition. It has never been framed and is currently matted and shrink-wrapped for protection. It is signed and dated 1967 in lower right.

Provenance: From the collection of the family of Balcomb’s Ranch Gallery, Colorado.