Original Painting of Hopi Ram and Antelope Dancers [R]

One of Fred Kabotie’s most talented students, Raymond Naha, is known for being one of the first Native American artists to break away from the two-dimensional style of Dorothy Dunn’s The Studio at the Santa Fe Indian School. This painting is characteristic of his ability to render exquisite detail and a sense of movement. It is a painting of three animal dancers. The animal dances celebrate the hunt and give blessing for the hope of the abundance of game. Naha has painted the dancers with precision, with vibrant colors and accurate depiction of the traditional paraphernalia. The painting is signed by the artist in lower right.  It is matted with museum quality materials and framed in a wood frame.

Raymond Naha exhibited widely and frequently during his career. He won many awards at Scottsdale, AZ, Santa Fe and Gallup, NM. He is represented in many of the best museums and collections.

Dorothy Dunn devoted a paragraph to Naha in her book (see reference below) on her students. She said:

“Raymond Naha is developing resourceful methods in using light and shade to dramatize Hopi ceremonials and dancers. He illuminates scenes in the striking contrasts of a particularly strong palette. Native conventions, however, underlie his painting even though it stands out as daringly different from that of the traditional Hopi school. He received the Indian Arts Fund Award in 1962.”

Condition:  original condition

Provenance: from the collection of Katie Noe (1905-1998) of Gallup, NM.  Noe worked for the finest Indian dealers in Gallup for 20 years—C. N. Cotton, Gross-Kelly, Charles Ilfeld, Gallup Mercantile, and C. G. Wallace—before opening her own Indian shop “the Zuni Shop” which she operated until her health failed.

Recommended Reading: Southwest Indian Painting: A Changing Art by Clara Lee Tanner