Original Painting of Hummingbirds and a Yei [SOLD]

In 1951, an arts silk-screen printing business called Tewa Enterprises was started in Santa Fe by Charles Barrows, a silkscreen printer, and Harrison Begay, the well-known Navajo painter. Tewa’s mission was to hand silk-screen reproductions of Navajo and Pueblo paintings and make them available to a wide audience at low prices. Subsequently, Cathie Sullivan, the current owner, purchased Tewa Enterprises.

Before a silkscreen print can be made, there must be an original work of art from which to make the print.  Gerald Nailor was one of the artists selected by Tewa to provide original paintings from which they could make silkscreen prints.  This painting of a pair of hummingbirds and a single Yei figure was one of the original paintings from Nailor.  It was completed in 1951 and was immediately made into prints.  This, however, is the original painting, not a silkscreen print.

"Gerald Nailor was the suave stylist-decorator. His lovely patterns of horses, deer, and antelopes were smartly and proudly drawn with never a thought for natural appearance. Every detail of their design was accomplished with adroitness and polish. If one must use the term in connection with Indian art, his work was sophisticated.” Dunn 1968

This original painting of hummingbirds and a Yei was among the last paintings made by Nailor, as he died the following year.  At the time of his death, he was living with his family at Picuris Pueblo.  Tragically, he was only 35 years old when he died from injuries received in an attempt to help a woman whose husband was brutally beating her.  Dorothy Dunn’s hope for his future would not happen.  She stated “We hope this Navajo boy will keep to the proud Indian beauty, more and more, his eyes on the straight road. It must be hard in a world where garish lights beckon on all sides. He has humor as well as feeling for line."

In this painting, one could surmise that the hummingbirds are in the sky realm of the Navajo Supernaturals and are cavorting with the Yei.  Perhaps it is meant to illustrate the natural bond between creatures of nature and those of the Supernatural.  Nailor would probably have continued painting such beautiful and meaningful paintings had he not died at the very young age of 35.  Because he did die so young, there are very few of his original paintings available for the market. 

Condition: original condition

Reference: American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas by Dorothy Dunn, 1968

Provenance: from the archives of Tewa Enterprises