Original Painting of Fawns and Porcupine by Beatien Yazz [SOLD]

This painting was made by influential Diné artist Beatien Yazz.  It is a sweet and unusual scene that was completed with style and grace.  In this image, two fawns observe as a porcupine travels across the desert.  They look closely but maintain distance, which suggests that they’re experienced enough to know not to make contact.  The scene feels oddly specific, and we’ve seen it depicted in another Yazz painting.  This leads us to believe that this scene is something that Yazz himself observed at some point.

As usual, Yazz’ work is stylish and appealing.  His two fawns are turned directly toward the viewer, which is atypical.  Their necks hang down toward the porcupine, and their perked-up ears and tails make their interest clear.  The porcupine appears as a round ball of quills, from which a short tail emerges.  Up above, two birds circle the sky, and a trio of tree branches hangs down into the frame.  Yazz selected just a few colors for this scene, and used slight variations to create depth.  Note the way that the blue tones become darker and bolder in the sections of the fawns’ bodies that are closer to the viewer, or the extra layer of gray quills painted over the porcupine’s otherwise brown form.  This is fine work from an artist who excelled at creating sweet depictions of wildlife.

The painting is signed B. Yazz in lower right.  It is framed under blue matting in a thin metal frame.

Beatien Yazz (1928-2012) Little No Shirt (Jimmy Toddy) was a painter who was born in 1928 on the Navajo Reservation.  At an early age, Yazz met Bill and Sallie Lippincott, traders at Wide Ruins Trading Post. They recognized Yazz’s talent and made available to him scraps of paper and other equipment so that he might practice his artwork.  Alberta Hannum’s book Spin a Silver Dollar tells the story of the Lippincotts and the young Navajo boy they encouraged. The book was illustrated by the boy himself—Beatien Yazz. 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 Original Painting of Fawns and Porcupine by Beatien Yazz is from a private Texas collection

Recommended Reading: YAZZ Navajo Painter by Wagner and Brody

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