Beatien Yazz Untitled Painting of Rabbit and Birds with Mushrooms [SOLD]

This work by Beatien Yazz, admired Diné of the Navajo Nation painter, shows a striking scene of a rabbit and two birds playing in a field of large, light purple mushrooms. Each bird is a charming blue color with black feathers and a brownish-orange backside. The mushrooms of varying sizes, rather unusual for Beatien Yazz, are highly detailed with many lines and spots throughout. The background is a deep beige, which is also somewhat atypical for Yazz.

Aside from the mushrooms and the background color, flora and fauna elements like those that appear here are common in Yazz's work. He does an excellent job of portraying the beauty of nature and the cohesiveness of each species and their relationship to each other and their environment. This particular painting exhibits the broadly accessible nature of Yazz's work while incorporating unique design elements.

The painting comes in a silver wood frame with two tiers of matting in gray under Tru-Vue glare-resistant glass. The painting is signed in the lower right B Yazz.

Beatien Yazz was a self-taught artist from the Navajo Nation. Alongside his classmates at the Santa Fe Indian School, he contributed to the proliferation of a painting style that is highly sought by collectors. He always included subject matter relating to his culture and religion, which is important to remember and teach to the next generation. His watercolor paintings provide important cultural records.

Beatien Yazz (1928- ) Little No Shirt (Jimmy Toddy) was born on the Navajo Reservation. Yazz showed promise as an artist very early. At an early age, Yazz met the Lippencotts, traders at the Wide Ruins Trading Post, and they made available to him scraps of paper and other equipment so that he might practice in color. He was also the subject of Alberta Hannum's books Spin a Silver Dollar and Paint the Wind, and his paintings were used as illustrations.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Beatien Yazz Untitled Painting of Rabbit and Birds with Mushrooms is from a member of the Balcomb family who had art galleries in New Mexico and Arizona in the 1970s

Recommended Reading: YAZZ Navajo Painter by J.J. Brody, Sallie R. Wagner, and Beatien Yazz. Published in 1983.

TAGS: Navajo Reservation, Spin a Silver Dollar, Paint the Wind, paintings, Yazz: Navajo Painter