Diné Man on Horseback Bracing the Winter Wind [SOLD]

After the Government forced the Navajo onto reservation land following an intense four-year imprisonment at Bosque Redondo in southern New Mexico, they continued to experience hardship.  They had lost their freedom to move about and follow their previous lifestyle.  Beatien Yazz probably never knew such hardships, having grown up later during the trading post period, yet he must have heard stories from the old ones about those hardships.  Here, he illustrates such an ordeal with a blanket-wrapped Navajo on horseback and with a donkey laden with a burden.  The wind is blowing and it is obvious in this black, white and grey painting that it is a cold winter day and the man has no choice but to be out in it.

Yazz spent his entire life, from early childhood, drawing and painting.  When he matured, he concentrated on painting scenes of everyday life among the Navajo.  He painted pastoral scenes, ceremonial subjects, and everyday male and female chores.  He documented a way of life for those who came later to witness the way of his people.

Yazz had an interesting life starting as just a youngster who loved to draw and paint.  He has been known by several names—Beatien Yazz, Jimmy Toddy, and Little No Shirt.  An individual Diné person does not release his name to non-Diné. They are never to be called by their Native name. The name or names by which we know a Diné are those assigned by either the government or a school official. Jimmie Toddy is a name bestowed on him at school. His father was known by the last name of Toddy, so that is where that name derived. He received the nickname Bea Etin Yazz at the trading post where he hung out as a young boy. It translates to Little No Shirt. An adult artist, who also hung out at the trading post at that time, always ran around without a shirt and was called "No Shirt." Toddy liked to walk around without a shirt because of the young man doing so and thereby earned the name Little No Shirt.

This painting is signed in lower right B. Yazz, a signature used by the artist during most of his career.  It is not dated but probably is from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s.  It is exquisitely framed with fabric mats and a wood frame.

Condition:  appears to be in original condition but has not been examined out of the frame

Provenance: from the personal collection of a gentleman from Colorado

Recommended Reading:  Yazz: Navajo Painter [SOLD] by J. J. Brody