"Influenced by Picasso’s Girl Before a Mirror" 1969 by Bevins Yuyaheova [SOLD]

This painting by Hopi artist Bevins Yuyaheova (1938-1969) Lomaquaftewa ("Looking for Beauty in the Future") was influenced by the paintings of Pablo Picasso, specifically Picasso's 1932 "Girl Before a Mirror". It is not a copy of Picasso's painting but it is nearly identical to the right half of Picasso's. 

Picasso's "Girl before a Mirror" is an oil on canvas painting  which he created in 1932. The painting is a portrait of Picasso's mistress and muse, Marie-Thérèse Walter, who is depicted standing in front of a mirror looking at her reflection. It has been in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City since 1938.  Yuyaheova\s painting focuses on the mirror image and not the girl herself. This painting is signed Bevins Yuyaheova '69 in the bottom right corner.

About the Artist: Bevins Yuyaheova

Hopi artist Bevins Yuyaheova lived in a village at Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation. Unfortunately, he died in an automobile accident at the young age of 31 years. We suspect there to be very little of his art available. A cursory online search revealed only a single other work of art and it happens that it is the one sold by Adobe Gallery in 2013 to Jim Bialac whose massive art collection now resides at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma.

Yuyaheova started painting at the suggestion of Hopi artist Michael Kabotie and was strongly influenced by Kabotie. He got his start painting kiva murals and then was influenced to move on to easel painting. In his short life, he won a first award at the Arizona State Fair in 1968 and in the same year won a second-place award at the Heard Museum Guild Show.  His paintings were exhibited at the Arizona State Fair, the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair, Philbrook Art Center and the Scottsdale National Indian Art Exposition.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: Displayed in the special exhibit Ancestral Symbols, Modern Masterpieces: Documenting the Sacred Narratives and History of the Hopi People at Adobe Gallery for its 50^th Anniversary Landmark Exhibition in Santa Fe, NM, May – October 2026. This painting by Bevins Yuyaheova "Influenced by Picasso’s Girl Before a Mirror" is from a client of Adobe Gallery, purchased from the Hopi Cultural Center in 2014. 

Reference: Broder, Patricia Janis. HOPI PAINTING: THE WORLD OF THE HOPIS, Brandywine Press, New York, 1979

TAGS: Native American Painting, Hopi Pueblo, Michael Kabotie, Bevins Yuyaheova