Original Painting “Navajo Girl with Lamb” [R]

Very often young Navajo children are given the responsibility of caring for a few lambs. It teaches them the importance of sheep to the Navajo people. There is a common Navajo saying, “You need to get up very early in the morning, so the coyote won’t get your sheep.” Getting up with the sun and caring for your flock is a traditional value among the desert dwelling Navajo.

Tahoma has painted a young Navajo girl diligently caring for her small group of lambs. He has painted the fine details of her traditional clothing and jewelry in a way that Clara Lee Tanner referred to as, “dynamic and imaginative.” Her brightly colored skirt and dark hair are being whipped around by the wind as she struggles with her charge, a young lamb. In the background, two other lambs are cavorting in different directions. In the bottom right hand corner, Tahoma has signed his name with a small vignette showing the young girl racing after her sheep.

The painting is dated 1945 and appears to be in excellent condition. It is framed and has not been examined out of the frame.