Original Painting of a Navajo on his Horse [SOLD]

“One Navajo artist whose paintings never fail to appeal in their quiet tone and delicacy of color is Charlie Lee. ‘Yel-Ha-Yah’ is his signature, and he has explained it as a shortening of Hush-Ka-Yel-Ha-Yah, meaning ‘warrior who came out,’ a name given him by his grandmother. And a more peaceful warrior never existed. 

“Lee was born in western New Mexico on April 14, 1926, near Red Rock, Arizona.  He started school at the age of seven, attending at one time or another St. Michaels Catholic Indian School, Southern Ute Indian School, Red Rock Day School, and Shiprock School, and Santa Fe Indian School in his senior year.

“When he was nine or ten years old, Charlie Lee often took care of his grandfather’s horses…(He) has often spoken lovingly and proudly in the same breath of the long line of palominos, pintos, buckskins, and a burro at the end, going to water.

“In his senior year at the Santa Fe Indian School, Lee took art under Geronima Montoya.  Upon his graduation in 1946, he returned to the Navajo Reservation.  Because he ‘did not feel at home at all,’ he returned to the school in Santa Fe and undertook more work. Tanner 1973

Charlie Lee reached his style in 1947 and it was one of simple and uncluttered subject matter.  He was quoted as having said that the art of his fellow Indians is ‘cluttered up.’  He preferred to present a single figure in soft mauve tones using casein paints.  His casein paints were never harsh or bright, sometimes being toned down by the addition of Chinese white.  Most often he presented his images with little or no ground plane and no distracting objects in the background.

This painting of a Navajo young man on his horse is rendered in Lee’s typical soft casein colors on a soft green background.  His black stallion is wonderful and the Navajo man presented beautifully.

The painting is signed in lower right Yel-Ha-Yah and dated ’65.  It is exquisitely framed in a toned wood frame with non-glare glass.

Condition: appears to be in original condition

Provenance: from a family in California

Recommended Reading: Southwest Indian Painting a changing art by Clare Lee Tanner