Original Painting of a Navajo Bowman [SOLD]

Quincy Tahoma (Water Edge) attended the Santa Fe Indian School for four years, from 1936-1940, entering in the seventh grade. He was a student at the same time as Harrison Begay, Pablita Velarde, Geronima Montoya, Andy Tsihnahjinnie, and Gerald Nailor, and studied under the tutelage of Dorothy Dunn at The Studio.

Although Dorothy Dunn did not overly teach painting styles to students, she did encourage them, and she let them know her desires that they paint items from their culture, not from other cultures. Pueblo students painted pueblo subjects and Navajo were to paint Navajo subjects.  Tahoma followed her instructions and painted subjects related to his culture.

"One of the most dynamic, imaginative, and gifted of Southwest Indian Artists."—Clara Lee Tanner, 1973.

In this small painting, Tahoma excelled himself.  It has to go down as one of the most significant paintings of his career.  He used the image of the hunter to fill the page, making him the sole object of the painting.  Minimal landscape serves only to provide a platform for the man.  Tahoma was an expert at male musculature and demonstrated his talent to the fullest in presenting the body of this hunter.  The use of only a loin cloth allowed him to present the body in full form.  The face of the Indian is handsome and slight shadows on his cheeks and nose highlight his features. 

The cartouche in lower right of the painting (and to the right here) shows the hunter lumbering along without any birds.  It is intended to be the next logical scene and so, his hunt was unsuccessful.  The painting is dated 1947.  It is matted in archival materials and framed in a wood frame.

Condition:  appears to be in original condition but has not been examined out of the frame.

Provenance: from the personal collection of a gentleman from Oklahoma

Recommended Reading:  Quincy Tahoma, the Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist by Charnell Havens, et al.