Andy Tsihnahjinnie Original Watercolor of Diné Card Game [SOLD]

This original painting was made by Andrew Van Tsihnahjinnie, an early Diné painter with a unique and appealing style.  Tsihnahjinnie is known and respected for being something of an individualist.  He created paintings using the typical Diné subject matter, but the manner in which he expressed these images feels distinctive in comparison to his peers.  He was more than capable of working within the traditional style, and he did so beautifully, but he also created paintings in a looser, more expressive style.

The painting features a group of Diné people playing cards.  They sit cross-legged on a large textile.  Horses look on, and two other people sleep nearby.  These Diné gamblers brought their finest jewelry, some of which has been piled in the central pot. This is a high stakes game, and Tsihnahjinnie depicted it in an appropriately energetic manner.  His linework is wild and full of life, and his color palette is remarkable.  Note the brilliant blue and green lines, the pink playing cards, and the bright red moccasins and sashes—Tsihnahjinnie’s palette is vibrant and exciting, complementing the composition beautifully.  It would be inaccurate to describe this piece as perfect on a technical level, but the areas in which it excels—character, spirit, and energy—are more significant to many collectors.  This is a wonderful example of Tsihnahjinnie’s expressive style.

The painting is signed A. Tsihnahjinnie in lower right.  It is framed in a black wood frame, under gray mat board with a black interior band.

Andrew Van Tsihnahjinnie (1916 - 2000) was a Diné 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 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 Original Watercolor of Diné Card Game is from a private New Mexico collection

Recommended Reading: American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas by Dorothy Dunn, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1968.

Relative LInks: Navajo, Apache, Santa Fe, Dorothy Dunn, painting, Andrew Van Tsihnahjinnie, Diné Artist