Painting of a Young Diné (Navajo) Girl Tending her Sheep [R]

Special Value Offer:  The consignor of this painting, and its companion painting (item # C3017B), has move from Santa Fe and is interested in selling both paintings, so she has authorized us to reduce the price by 20% from $750 to $600 on each.

Begay is a living legend among Indian artists. His traditional flat, graphic art depicts life, animals and religion of the Navajo people. He has frequently been copied but never equaled. He attended the Santa Fe Indian School in 1934 where he completed his high school education. It was there that he met and studied under the well-known Dorothy Dunn, whose influence is still evident.

In this excellent painting, Begay depicts a Navajo girl hand feeding grass to her sheep while her faithful companion dog sits on the hill behind her. Unlike so many of his contemporaries who use strong colors, Begay has an affinity for the softer pastel hues. This renders his paintings with a feeling of warmth and mellowness.

This painting is signed with his traditional English/Navajo names. It is not dated but appears to be one of his circa 1980s paintings. It appears to be in original excellent condition but has not been examined out of frame. It is matted and framed with wooden frame, although there are some surface scratches to the wood.

This painting is a good compliment to another Begay painting, our item number C3017B which is matted and framed to match.

Provenance: ex. coll. Santa Fe art collector