Diné (Navajo) Wool Pictorial Rug of Interior of Hogan [SOLD]

Chuck and Jan Rosenak, collectors of Navajo art and authors of Navajo folk art, visited Florence Riggs in 1992 at the home of her mother, Louise Nez, in Farmington, New Mexico.  The Rosenaks said that mother and daughter were working in the cramped-for-space living room on a type of loom that they had never before seen—a double loom.  “My brother [Bill Nez] designed and built the loom for us,” Florence said.  “It gives me the chance to visit with mother, and both of us can weave our own rugs at the same time.”  The looms are face-to-face so the women can see each other as they weave.

This rug by Florence is a family scene inside their hogan.  One woman is spinning yarn and another is weaving a rug.  A man in a green shirt is watching TV while a kid in a yellow shirt is playing with a truck.  A jeweler is seated at his bench working on a concha belt with a cup of coffee nearby.  One woman in the far corner is grinding corn and placing it in a basket while another is cooking in lower center of the textile.  The weaver’s initials FR appear in the upper corner black border.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: from the personal collection of Chuck and Jan Rosenak, collectors and authors of Navajo folk art.

Recommended Reading:  The People Speak: Navajo Folk Art by Chuck and Jan Rosenak