Navajo Boy and Navajo Girl on Horseback [SOLD]

Harrison Begay (1914-2012) Haashké yah Níyá - The Wandering Boy was one of the most well-known students of the Santa Fe Indian School, where he was educated from 1934 to 1940.  He received a great deal of international acclaim during his long career, and was one of the first Native American artists to support himself financially with his artwork.  Begay enjoyed a long career as a prolific creator of “flat-style” watercolor paintings, celebrating beauty and serenity with a warm and inviting color palette.  He was a close friend of Quincy Tahoma and was with him the day he passed away.

Begay often painted images that he intended to be displayed as pairs.  This is one of those pairs—a young Navajo boy on his horse and a matching painting of a young Navajo girl on her horse.  Compositionally, they are nearly symmetrical, with even the minor background details placed in careful symmetry.  The most notable exceptions are the Rainbow Yei figures, which extend in the same direction.  Begay's human subjects' faces are endearingly kind, and his horses are skillfully depicted.  The abundance of soft colored paints and the blue paper on which they were used combine to create a very sweet presentation.

Both paintings are signed with Begay’s native name (Haashké yah Níyá) and English name (Harrison Begay).  Neither painting is dated.

Condition: both appear to be in very good condition

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Texas.  They were purchased from Andrews Pueblo Pottery in Albuquerque in 1980.

Recommended Reading:  Visions and Voices: Native American Painting from the Philbrook Museum of Art by Suzanne Abel-Vidor, et al