Original Painting of Three Diné Hunters of the Navajo Reservation by Beatien Yazz [SOLD]

In this large Navajo painting by Beatien Yazz, the artist focuses our attention on the three Indians on horseback.  Other than the ground plane and a couple of birds flying overhead, there are no other objects to divert one’s attention.  Each of the three young men is dressed in traditional Navajo clothing, wearing moccasins and headbands, and carrying either a sheathed gun or a spear.  They are out for a hunt but are talking and laying their plans before departing for the hunt.

Two of the young warriors each carry a rifle and the third one has a bow and arrows over his shoulder and a spear in one hand and a shield in the other.  The background has been very lightly painted in blue stripes, perhaps to break up the stark white paper.

Jimmy Toddy was essentially a self-taught artist, his only early instructions being from the Lippincotts of Wide Ruins Trading Post where he spent most of his time as a child.  The Lippincotts were not trained in art instruction but their comments to him were beneficial. After the end of World War II, there was a movement among some Native American artists to develop a more realistic approach to art than that taught at The Studio of the Santa Fe Indian School.  Paintings in this style were more illustrative and explicit in details of realistic life.

Jimmy Toddy’s place in the history of Navajo art is well accepted.  He certainly was one of the most important painters of Navajo life and culture of the 20th century.  He has been known as Bea etin Yazz (Little No Shirt), a nickname given him as a young boy; and Jimmy Toddy, a name assigned to him by a school teacher and derived from a nickname in Navajo by which his father or grandfather was known.  His real name, in accordance with Navajo culture, remains unknown as a Diné proper name is not divulged to non-Natives. The majority of his paintings are signed with the name B Yazz, and the spelling is now accepted at Beatien Yazz.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: from a collector living in Colorado

Recommended Reading:  Yazz: Navajo Painter by J. J. Brody, et al.

Relative Links: Beatien Yazz, Fine Art - Native American Paintings, Navajo