Original Painting of a Horse in Black and White [SOLD]

Quincy Tahoma (1917-1956) Water Edge attended the Santa Fe Indian School for four years, from 1936-1940, entering in the seventh grade. He was a student at the same time as Harrison Begay, Pablita Velarde, Geronima Montoya, Andy Tsihnahjinnie, and Gerald Nailor, and studied under the tutelage of Dorothy Dunn at The Studio.

Although Dorothy Dunn did not overly teach painting styles to students, she did encourage them, and she let them know her desires that they paint items from their culture, not from other cultures. Pueblo students were to paint pueblo subjects and Navajo were to paint Navajo subjects.  Tahoma followed her instructions and painted subjects related to his culture.  The horse has traditionally been a Navajo prized possession.  The Navajo embrace the horse and have made it a part of their culture, designing elaborate bridal gear from leather and silver and weaving saddle blankets of the utmost beauty.

Many Navajo artists painted images of horses and Tahoma was particularly adept at doing so.  This Palomino is rendered in black and white but there is subtle shading of the lower body and legs with blue color.  The horse has just taken a bite of grass and lifted its head as a butterfly flying overhead caught his attention.  The mountain range behind the horse is rendered in shades of blue.

The painting is signed in lower right Tahoma ’50 including his traditional cartouche which shows the horse running.  Tahoma traditionally wrote a title and signed his name on the back of paintings.  This one was delivered to us already framed so we do not know if Tahoma wrote anything on verso.

Condition:  appears to be in original condition but has not been examined out of the frame.

Provenance: from a large collection of paintings from a New York estate

Recommended Reading: Quincy Tahoma, the Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist by Charnell Havens