Adobe Gallery Blog
Original Painting “The Navajo Woman Rider” by Quincy Tahoma - C3817
This early painting (dated 1939) clearly shows the influence of Quincy Tahoma's time at the Santa Fe Indian School. The style is typical of that established during the tenure of Dorothy Dunn as director of The Studio of the Indian School. Tahoma later evolved into more three-dimensional painting but this early one is of the flat style.
Tahoma had been sent by the Government to the Albuquerque Indian School in 1929 from his home in Tuba City, Arizona. A year later, he was transferred to the Santa Fe Indian School, entering in the 4th grade. Santa Fe contrasted sharply with his home on the Navajo Nation and this must have been difficult for a boy of 12 years of age. Not only was he taken away from his parents, he was taken away from familiar life of a Navajo on the Indian Reservation.