Original Painting of a Cliff Wall with Petroglyphs [SOLD]

Beatien Yazz is certainly a versatile artist during his career, from painting small animals cavorting around to major ceremonial themes.  This painting is a first for us and apparently for his long-time mentor Sallie Lippincott Wagner, the wife of the trader with whom Little No Shirt grew to manhood and developed his artistic career.  In a letter to the current owners in the early 1970s, Sally said “The painting of the cliff and the birds is VERY unusual for Beatin Yazz.”

It is quite possible that Beatien Yazz visited Canyon de Chelly and was inspired to paint this scene.  It is probably not a direct copy of one of the canyon walls but his interpretation of it.  There are many different drawings of symbols on the cliff wall of this painting.  There are also his trademark birds flying across the wall.  The red fall color leaves hang from limbs across the top of the painting and a pair of squirrels play on the dead tree trunk in lower center.

The painting is signed in lower right and is not dated, but the current owners purchased in the very early 1970s and believe it was relatively new at that time.  It is double matted with acid-free materials and framed in a tan wood frame.  It is ready to hang and enjoy.

Condition: appears to be in original condition

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Illinois who purchased it from a gallery in the early 1970s.

Recommended Reading:  Yazz: Navajo Painter by J. J. Brody.  This book is currently not available from Adobe Gallery