Beatien Yazz Original Painting of Two Men on Horseback [SOLD]

This large original painting was created by influential Diné artist Beatien Yazz.  The painting features two Diné men on horseback, meeting beneath a bright full moon.  Each man gestures emphatically with his hands, informing the viewer that this is not a casual conversation.  They face each other directly, with the full moon placed right in between them, just a few inches above the center of the large image.  One cannot help but wonder about the purpose of their meeting, but that, of course, will remain a mystery.

What’s most impressive about this piece is the way Yazz used color to elevate the mood.  The entire image is bathed in blue, with a variety of tones coming together to create depth. Note the way that the series of snow-covered hills begins in the foreground as nearly white and ends with distant mesas in dark blue.  This is thoughtful, careful work that makes the most of just a few colors.  Up above, the sky is enriched by atomized applications of blue, white, and yellow.  The areas surrounding the mesas use a thick application of dark blue, which becomes sparser as it transitions to white and yellow in the area surrounding the moon.

Yazz’ humans and animals are always excellent, but in this image they seem to have received extra attention.  The dark, earthy tones used to form their bodies and clothing suit the scene perfectly.  The lines that define their figures look a bit crisper than usual—black ink, perhaps, in addition to the usual casein paints—and appear more frequently as well.  Thin lines in wispy gray echo the movements of the sharp black outlines, further enhancing the depth of each figure.  We have handled many paintings by Beatien Yazz over the years, but we can say without hesitation that this rich, mysterious image is one of his finest.

The painting is signed B. Yazz in the lower right.  It is framed beautifully, under a blue mat with a gray interior, in a carved wood frame with a blue stain.

Beatien Yazz (1928-2012) was a Diné painter. He served in the U.S. Marines in World War II and was a member of the famed Navajo Code Talkers. Following the war, he returned to the reservation and began to paint in earnest. He specialized in subjects familiar to him in his daily life on the reservation. He has been eminently popular with collectors since the 1950s.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Beatien Yazz Original Painting of Two Men on Horseback is from the large collection of a Santa Fe resident, who purchased the piece directly from the artist.

References:

- Southwest Indian Painting: A Changing Art, Clara Lee Tanner 

- The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters, Patrick D. Lester

Relative Links: Navajo Reservation, Spin a Silver Dollar, Paint the Wind, paintings, Beatien Yazz, Navajo Nation Painter