Diné - Navajo Original Watercolor of Reservation Landscape [R]

Robert Draper grew up on the Navajo Reservation with his Navajo mother and Hopi-Laguna father.  He was educated on the reservation and has spent his entire life living there.  Draper did not follow the two-dimensional style painting of many of his contemporaries but chose to paint in the European style.  He has concentrated on the beautiful landscapes of the Navajo Reservation with which he is thoroughly familiar.  His colors are brilliant and reflect the bright colors of the rock formations that abound on the reservation lands.  He frequently painted winter scenes with snow and billowing white clouds.

This painting is illustrative of a winter with the hogan in front center and the barren landscape covered in snow.  The red buttes stand magnificently above the diminutive-looking hogan.  The painting does not depict the scene as foreboding but actually entices one to consider visiting.  It is beautiful and magnificent.

The painting is signed in lower right but it is not dated.  It is framed in a beautiful carved wood frame.

Condition:  appears to be in excellent condition but has not been examined out of the frame.

Provenance: from the collection of Katherine H. Rust

Recommended Reading:  Southwest Indian Painting a Changing Art by Clara Lee Tanner