Original Navajo Painting of Two Diné Racing their Horses [SOLD]

Navajo painter 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.

This painting appears to present a Navajo man horse racing with a Navajo younger man, perhaps his son.  Navajo families were very close and older males of the family—fathers, uncles, brothers, clan relatives—joined in to train the younger members.  Until after World War II, the Navajo language was unwritten. All instructions had to be passed on verbally or by action. This painting could reflect a horse-riding lesson for the young man, however, it seems that he is well versed and is ahead of the adult.

Begay always painted with soft pastel colors, never anything bright or garrish.  “Extreme delicacy becomes uppermost in this artist’s works with lines so fine that it seems impossible that they could have been made with a brush.  Coupled with this are the keen powers of observation of which the Indian has more than his share. In Begay’s work there is often the disciplined balance between the heavy formalities of inherited tradition and a warm realish which developed within a very short span of years.

“Begay evolved a style that is essentially his own, a style which influenced others, but which has not been equaled in perfection by any of those he has so greatly affected.  Lines that breathe rhythm; clean, cool, and sensitive coloring; a gentleness of figure; peace and calm throughout, from facial expression to composition; impeccable drawing, the best in Navajo art; simplicity coupled with realistic detail; few and conventional plant forms or other background effects; harmony and serenity—these and other more elusive traits and qualities are combined in the inimitable Begay manner.” Tanner 1973

The painting is framed with archival materials in a hand-made, hand-carved wood frame by Tres Mowka Framers of Santa Fe, one of Santa Fe’s finest framers. It is signed in lower right only, an indication of an earlier work by Begay.  Later, he signed his Native name and his Anglo name.

**Note: Most published references to Harrison Begay state that the translation of his name Haskay Yahne Yah is Warrior Who Walked Up to His Enemy. The correct translation is The Wandering Boy. Thanks to Jim C. Hunt for bringing this to our attention. Hunt’s father spent the better part of his life on the Navajo reservation. He taught the Navajo language at Northland Pioneer College in Holbrook, AZ, and was beyond fluent in the language. It was he who told the younger Hunt the correct translation. Our thanks to the Hunts for this enlightenment.

Condition: this Original Navajo Painting of Two Diné Racing their Horses is in original condition

Provenance: from the collection of a Santa Fe family which is consoling their two homes into one and found it necessary to give up some artworks.  

Reference: Tanner, Clara Lee.  Southwest Indian Painting: a changing art, 1973

Artist Image Source: Wikipedia external link via The Indigenous Research Center website. Harrison Begay at age 89 - photo by Colleen Gorman 2004 

** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at Marketing adobegallery.com.