Original Painting of Man on Horseback by Robert Chee [SOLD]

C4486J-paint.jpg

+ Add to my watchlist Forward to Friend


Robert Chee, Diné Painter
  • Category: Paintings
  • Origin: Diné of the Navajo Nation
  • Medium: casein
  • Size:
    14” x 19-⅜” image;
    21-⅝” x 26-⅞” framed
  • Item # C4486J
  • SOLD

This original painting by Diné artist Robert Chee features a young man on horseback.  He’s making music as he travels across the Navajo Nation’s amid hillsides.  With his mouth open wide and his head tilted back slightly, it’s evident to the viewer that the young man is pleasantly lost in song.  Chee’s work with these figures is bold and stylish, with thick black outlines framing attractive colors.

Chee placed his figures within a lively, detailed landscape.  They’ve just crossed the crest of a small hill, which is decorated by a variety of plants and rocks.  A large tree occupies much of the image’s right side.  Sheep graze in the background.  Further into the distance, sandstone mesas rise into a sky dotted by wispy cloud formations.  Chee wisely selected a color palette that feels muted and pleasantly hazy, adding bright colors sparingly in certain areas.  This is a wonderful example of Robert Chee’s work.

Artist Signature of Robert Chee - Diné - Navajo NationThe painting is signed Robert Chee and dated ‘59.  It is framed under two layers of matting in complementary green tones, in a textured off-white frame.

Robert Chee (1937-1971) Hashke-Yil-e-Cale was a Diné painter whose life and career were, unfortunately, very short. Chee's mother recognized his talent and enrolled him at Brigham, Utah's Inter-Mountain School. There, he studied with famous Apache artist Allan Houser.  He was in the military from 1958 to 1961, and was actively creating art then, too, painting murals in Army facilities in Germany. Chee's paintings are almost always in keeping with the traditional Diné style, which had already been made recognizable by artists like Harrison Begay, Quincy Tahoma, and Gerald Nailor. The influence of these predecessors is clear in his paintings, particularly in his subjects' faces. The fine lines and incredible detail for which the pioneering Diné painters are rightfully celebrated is present in Chee's strongest works. Chee died in 1971, at just 34 years old.


Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Original Painting of Man on Horseback by Robert Chee is from the estate of a Santa Fe resident who just recently passed away.

Recommended Reading: Southwest Indian Painting: a changing art by Clara Lee Tanner

Relative Links: DinéNavajoAllan HouserApacheNative American PaintingsRobert Chee, Navajo Painter

Close up view of a section of this painting.

Robert Chee, Diné Painter
  • Category: Paintings
  • Origin: Diné of the Navajo Nation
  • Medium: casein
  • Size:
    14” x 19-⅜” image;
    21-⅝” x 26-⅞” framed
  • Item # C4486J
  • SOLD

C4486J-paint.jpgC4486J-large.jpg Click on image to view larger.