Original Painting of Diné Cattle Farmer by Beatien Yazz [SOLD]

This untitled original painting was created by influential Diné artist Beatien Yazz.  The artist is known for brightly colored, remarkably detailed images of Diné life.  With this piece, he shifts away from those bright colors in favor of a moonlit scene, and he does so with the same success we’ve seen in other atypical works.  Yazz’s versatility resulted in a body of work that is worthy of continued exploration.

Yazz’s subject here is a Diné cattle farmer.  He rides along on horseback, under a crescent moon, as three members of his herd walk ahead.  A small dog trots along behind the horse, undoubtedly ready to assist if called upon.  Wispy streaks of white form the snow-covered ground upon which they travel.  A handful of small plants appear, and a single bare tree rises in the center of the image.  A cloud of grey paint serves as an appropriate background.  White paints appear as the cloud reaches upward toward the moon.  Yazz’s work with this image is soft, dreamy, and alluring.

The painting is signed “B. Yazz ©” in lower right with the year ‘87.  The signature has faded and is barely legible (we enhanced the signature for viewing).  The painting is framed under acrylic and a wide brown mat in a carved wood frame.  

Beatien Yazz (1928-2012) Little No Shirt (Jimmy Toddy) was a painter who was born in 1928 on the Navajo Reservation.  At an early age, Yazz met Bill and Sallie Lippincott, traders at Wide Ruins Trading Post. They recognized Yazz’s talent and made available to him scraps of paper and other equipment so that he might practice his artwork.  Alberta Hannum’s book Spin a Silver Dollar tells the story of the Lippincotts and the young Navajo boy they encouraged. The book was illustrated by the boy himself—Beatien Yazz. He served in the U.S. Marines in World War II and was a member of the famed Navajo Code Talkers. Following the war, he returned to the reservation and began to paint in earnest. He specialized in subjects familiar to him in his daily life on the reservation. He has been eminently popular with collectors since the 1950s.

Condition: good condition, signature has faded and is barely visible

Provenance:  this Original Painting of Diné Cattle Farmer by Beatien Yazz isfrom the large collection of an Albuquerque family

Recommended Reading: YAZZ Navajo Painter by Wagner and Brody

Relative Links: Navajo Reservation, Spin a Silver Dollar, Paint the Wind, paintings, Beatien Yazz, Navajo Nation Painter