Andy Tsihnahjinnie Painting of Native Men and Priest [SOLD]

This original mixed media creation by Andrew Van Tsihnahjinnie depicts two Diné men engaging with a Spanish priest. One of the Diné men sits, and the other stands, raising a hand and speaking. The priest holds a cross in his left hand and gestures with his right. In the background, a man and his burro observe the interaction from a distance.

Tsihnahjinnie's work can range from precise and detailed to loose and wild. With this piece, he leaned toward the former style, offering carefully depicted figures within a well-crafted composition. His figures are outlined in black ink and shaded using watercolor paints in just three tones—a smoky gray, a wispy red, and a soft orange. As far as the artist's chosen tools go, this is a unique piece, and the work he completed with those tools is excellent.

The painting is signed Tsinajinie in lower right. It is framed under glass and a charcoal matte in a carved wood frame.

Andrew Van Tsihnahjinnie (1916 - 2000) was a Diné of the Navajo Nation painter who was born near Chinle, Arizona. He attended elementary school at the Indian School at Fort Apache but ran away and returned to the reservation. He then attended school in Santa Fe and became a student of Dorothy Dunn at the Santa Fe Indian School. He was an excellent student and was known to have stayed in the studio painting until being forced to return to the dormitory. Following his graduation, he went to work as an illustrator for the Indian Service. Tsihnahjinnie's works are included in many prominent public and private collections, and are published in most of the major texts which relate to Native painting. Tsihnahjinnie passed away in 2000.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Andy Tsihnahjinnie Painting of Native Men and Priest is from a private collection

Recommended Reading:  Modern by Tradition: American Indian Painting in the Studio Style by Bruce Bernstein

TAGS: Navajo, Apache, Santa Fe, Dorothy Dunn, painting