Harrison Begay Original Painting of a Group of Horses [SOLD]

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Harrison Begay, Diné Artist of the Navajo Nation

This original painting was created by Diné of the Navajo Nation artist Harrison Begay.  It features a group of seven horses, with one prominently featured and the others appearing far in the distance.  The horse in the foreground trots through a desert landscape, with trees and yucca plants emerging from cloudy orange earth forms.

Begay painted many horses during his long career, but this one deserves attention because of the careful precision and sharp detail with which it was composed.  Begay’s lines are consistently razor-thin throughout, and his colors stick closely to those of the natural world rather than the warm pastel tones he’d often use.  In the background, six more horses appear as simple, elegant gray forms.  They run, rest, and graze, with cloudy green forms representing the earth beneath their feet.

Artist Signature of Harrison Begay, Diné Artist of the Navajo NationThe painting is signed Harrison Begay in lower right.  It is framed in a simple wood frame, under a wide tan mat board.

Harrison Begay (1917-2012) Haskay Yahne Yah - The Wandering Boy was a world-renowned Diné of the Navajo Nation painter who is generally regarded as one of the most successful and influential early Native American painters.  Begay studied under Dorothy Dunn at the Santa Fe Indian School in the 1930s, and then attended colleges in North Carolina and Arizona. From 1942 to 1945, he served in the US Army Signal Corps.  In 1947, Begay returned to the Navajo reservation, where he enjoyed a long and productive career as a painter. He is known to have continued painting into his 90s. Begay passed away in 2012, leaving behind a large body of work and a legacy in the world of Native art.


Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Harrison Begay Original Painting of a Group of Horses is from the collection of a family from Arizona

Recommended Reading: Tanner, Clara Lee. SOUTHWEST INDIAN PAINTING a Changing Art

TAGS: Diné - NavajoHarrison BegayDorothy DunnNative American Paintings

Close up view of a section of this painting.

Harrison Begay, Diné Artist of the Navajo Nation
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