Original Painting of a Hopi Weaver [SOLD]

One of Fred Kabotie’s most talented students, Raymond Naha, is known for being one of the first Native American artists to break away from the two-dimensional style of Dorothy Dunn’s Santa Fe Indian School. He had studied under Kabotie at Oraibi High School on the reservation for one year. This painting is characteristic of his ability to render real-life imagery in real-life dimension.

Dorothy Dunn devoted a paragraph to Naha in her book on her students. She said:

“Raymond Naha is developing resourceful methods in using light and shade to dramatize Hopi ceremonials and dancers. He illuminates scenes in the striking contrasts of a particularly strong palette. Native conventions, however, underlie his painting even though it stands out as daringly different from that of the traditional Hopi school. He received the Indian Arts Fund Award in 1962.”

Among the Hopi, it is traditional for men to perform all the weaving of clothing and blankets, unlike the Navajo where women perform this task. Pueblo men were weaving with native cotton when the Spaniards arrived in the 16^th century. The Navajo were not weaving as they had no cotton nor did they have sheep from which to get wool for weaving. Sheep were brought in by the Spaniards. When the Spaniards provided sheep to the Navajo, women, rather than men, undertook the task of learning to weave.

As was true of so many of the pueblo paintings done by early artists, they have served as fine ethnological studies from the clothing of the subject to the actions being taken as well as to the architectural features of the surrounding area. Naha has demonstrated this very well in this painting.

Naha exhibited widely and frequently during his career. He won many awards at Scottsdale, AZ, Santa Fe and Gallup, NM. He is represented in many of the best museums and collections.

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