Untitled Diné (Navajo) Painting of a Boy Holding Rabbit [SOLD]

Beatien Yazz was no stranger to nature and wildlife on the Navajo reservation. Opportunities abounded to see animals in their natural habitat unaffected by their interactions with humans. The vastness of the land allowed them to roam free and provide Yazz with lots of subject matter for his paintings.

Dorothy Dunn, Yazz's teacher at the Santa Fe Indian School, encouraged her students to paint what they saw in their surroundings. Beatien Yazz possessed a great eye for capturing detail and he was able to easily transfer that to the canvas. It also was as if Yazz had a special relationship with nature, which can be envisioned when one looks contemplatively at the artist's work.

In this painting, a young Navajo boy holds up a rabbit and seems to be communicating with it through his eyes, which hints at that strong connection to nature.

Condition: The painting is in original excellent condition. It has never been framed and is currently shrink-wrapped for protection. It is signed in lower right. The piece is undated but likely dates from the late 1950s

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