Diné (Navajo) Painting of Kneeling Yei with Captured Deer [R]

Beatien Yazz, born in 1928, was essentially a self-taught artist. He grew up on the Navajo Reservation, which gave him an up-close and personal look at the nature and wildlife that filled its vast lands.

In this black and white painting, likely done later in Yazz’s career, a Yei has captured a deer and is about to put it in a storage bag. Thematically, this piece is much more solemn than many of Yazz’s earlier paintings, but it is beautiful nonetheless.

Condition: The painting is in original excellent condition. It is matted and framed and signed in the lower right “Beatian Yazz,” one of his varied signatures.

Provenance: From the collection of the family of Balcomb’s Ranch Gallery, Colorado.