Painting by Beatien Yazz of Diné Fire Dancers [SOLD]

This large painting of a Diné Fire Dance is one of the finest Beatien Yazz paintings we have seen.  Yazz is known for using strong colors to create spirited, appealing figures.  Many of his images are serene and beautiful depictions of life in the Navajo Nation.  This piece proves that Yazz created wild, dramatic images just as adeptly as he did calm, decorative scenes.  Here, he manages to elevate the intensity without sacrificing any of the beauty.

The painting features two Diné Fire Dancers in front of a massive formation of bright orange flames.  The dancers hold lit torches and wear loincloths, moccasins, and headbands.  Their bodies are stylized in a most appealing manner, elevating the lean, muscular dancers’ spectacular movements.  The painting’s most appealing element, however, is actually the background—an enormous fire rises from a circular band of logs, covering the upper two thirds of the image in vibrant orange.  Dark blue and wispy white accents surround the edges of each column of flame.  They branch off one another, dividing into smaller flames and ultimately extending in every direction but down.  Four faces appear in the orange-spotted sky, which is rendered barely visible by the fire’s extraordinary presence.  This is a truly exceptional example of Beatien Yazz’ work.

The painting is signed B.Yazz in the lower right.  It is framed under glass and two layers of gray matting in a carved wood frame.

Beatien Yazz (1928-2012) Little No Shirt (Jimmy Toddy) was a painter who was born in 1928 on the Navajo Reservation.  At an early age, Yazz met Bill and Sallie Lippincott, traders at Wide Ruins Trading Post. They recognized Yazz’s talent and made available to him scraps of paper and other equipment so that he might practice his artwork.  Alberta Hannum’s book Spin a Silver Dollar tells the story of the Lippincotts and the young Navajo boy they encouraged. The book was illustrated by the boy himself—Beatien Yazz. He served in the U.S. Marines in World War II and was a member of the famed Navajo Code Talkers. Following the war, he returned to the reservation and began to paint in earnest. He specialized in subjects familiar to him in his daily life on the reservation. He has been eminently popular with collectors since the 1950s.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Painting by Beatien Yazz of Diné Fire Dancers if from a private Santa Fe collection

Recommended Reading: Yazz Navajo Painter by J. J. Brody

Relative Links: Navajo Reservation, Spin a Silver Dollar, Paint the Wind, Beatien Yazz, Painting, Navajo