Diné (Navajo) Family Tending its Sheep [SOLD]

Abeita, being born and raised on the Navajo Reservation, at Crownpoint, New Mexico, was exposed all his young life to the ways of Navajo families living and raising sheep in Canyon de Chelly, that marvelous beautiful canyon, sometimes called the Little Grand Canyon.  His treatments of the landscape and the people of the canyon are unmistakably accurate. 

Abeita's presentations of the red rocks that form the background of this painting are a precise representation of those in the canyon.  His details of the rock formation and the ground around the area are not the work of an amateur artist but of one with an acute eye for detail and patience to see the project to completion.

The detail he presents in the clothing of the women is in the style of contemporary Navajo art but is well beyond what his contemporaries present.  The herd of sheep, each one presented in the finest detail, illustrates well this artist's dedication to his work.

This is an exceptional painting of a moment in the lives of a Navajo family.  The painting is signed in lower right, but not dated.  It most likely was completed in the 1960s based on the dates of other paintings in this collection.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: from the collection of Katherine H. Rust

Recommended Reading:  The American Indians of Abeita: His People with an Introduction by Joseph Stacey