Beatien Yazz Original Painting of Diné Arrow Swallower [SOLD]

This original painting of a Diné ceremonial function was created in 1943 by Beatien Yazz.  Yazz would go on to become a successful and influential painter.  When this painting was completed, though, he was just a teenager.  He had exhibited his work and received some positive press already, but he’d yet to develop the style for which he would eventually become well known and widely collected.  This painting is a document of the artist’s early years, and it is apparent that he was quite talented even as a young man.

We reached out to a Diné friend who is very knowledgeable when it comes to ceremonial functions.  He provided us with this description of the ceremony depicted in this image: “The painting is referring to the Dzilth’kji’—the Mountain Way or Fire Dance ceremony. During the final night of the ceremony, there is a rite that pertains to the image showing the ‘arrow swallowing.’  In the evening of the final night, after the bonfire is ignited, there are two individuals—one painted black, and the other painted white. They arrive in the brush corral whistling. The ceremonial patient is met before them, standing on a Buffalo hide. The head chanter/medicine man stands beside the patient, holding the plumed arrows. He then places the plumes on the patient’s corn meal basket presented to the deities. A long prayer is transferred from the chanter to the patient, and repeatedly to the deities. The patient gives the plumed arrow to each figure’s hand, then the two deities become active. They touch the patient with the plumed arrows, reach back, crossing the plume arrow on their foreheads, lift up the arrow, tilting their heads and placing the arrow into the mouths. Then they spin clockwise, and quickly pace laterally side to side, repeating the rite four times, expelling any illness the patient has. The figures then give back the plume arrows to the chanter, more prayers are said, which concludes the ‘arrow swallowing’ rite.”

The painting is signed Beatien Yazz in the lower right. It is unframed and attached to the original mat.  Handwritten text on the back and the mat dates the piece to February 1943, and identifies the original price of $4.

Beatien Yazz (1928-2012) was a primarily self-taught artist from the Navajo Nation.  Alongside his classmates at the Santa Fe Indian School, he contributed to the proliferation of a painting style that is highly sought by collectors.  He always included subject matter relating to his culture and religion, which is important to remember and teach to the next generation.  His watercolor paintings provide important cultural records.  Yazz passed away in 2012.

Condition: good condition with some abrasion and discoloration

Provenance: this Beatien Yazz Original Painting of Diné Arrow Swallower is from the large collection of a Santa Fe resident

Reference: The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters, Patrick D. Lester

Relative Links: Navajo Reservation, Spin a Silver Dollar, Paint the Wind, paintings, Yazz: Navajo Painter, Beatien Yazz, Navajo Nation Painter