Original Choctaw Painting titled “Buffalo” by Valjean McCarty Hessing [SOLD]

This excellent original painting by Choctaw artist Valjean McCarty Hessing is unlike anything we’ve handled recently.  Her subject here is a favorite of Native American painters: a buffalo. There’s nothing traditional or predictable about her buffalo, though—it’s abstract and unusual in every way, and most certainly beautiful.  Hessing was a successful artist who mainly worked in the traditional style of her people, creating realistic depictions of everyday life and ceremonial functions.  With this painting, which is dated 1974, she created something totally unique.  

Valjean McCarty Hessing (1934-2006) used an earthy color palette—various browns, grays, tans, and off-whites—on a mustard yellow background.  Various abstract shapes cross, collide with and connect to one another, forming a loose but recognizable buffalo. Hessing’s dreamy forms stretch out vertically while remaining rather tight horizontally, which makes the animal seem tall and substantial.  Its front half, with its connected blocks of brown and tan, feels more connected to reality than its wispy back half. In the center of the front half is a multicolored round design. Its prominent position and stronger color composition suggest significance—perhaps it represents the animal’s heart or spirit?  Hessing’s work with this buffalo is truly exceptional.

The painting is signed Valjean Hessing and dated 74 in lower right.  It is framed in a simple wood frame, underneath three layers of matting in complementary colors.

Valjean McCarty Hessing (1934-2006) was a Choctaw artist who mainly produced works in what is known as the “Bacone school” style, or simply the “Bacone” style.  The Bacone style, a regionally specific “flat” style of painting, is similar in certain ways to the Studio and Southern Plains styles. Woody Crumbo, Acee Blue Eagle and Fred Beaver rank among the most famous creators of Bacone style images.  Hessing came up during a time when very few Native women were painting, but managed to begin winning scholarships and awards at a very young age. She went on to have a very successful career. Her works are included in many prominent public and private collections around the country.

Condition: this Original Choctaw Painting titled "Buffalo" by Valjean McCarty Hessing is in excellent condition

Provenance: private New Mexico collection

Relative Links: Choctaw, Native American Paintings, Valjean McCarty Hessing