Original Painting “Kachina Maidens” [SOLD]

Dan Namingha is from the Hopi-Tewa village at First Mesa.  He is a member of the famous Nampeyo family.  His mother is Dextra Nampeyo and his grandmother was Rachel Namingha Nampeyo. He was born in 1950 and attended High School at Keams Canyon, Arizona, the University of Kansas and then the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe where he came under the influence of Otellie Loloma who encouraged him to experiment with his art.  He began his art career painting in realistic style and then, around 1972, began to paint in a more abstract manner. Teachers at IAIA, such as Otellie Loloma, Allan Houser, and Fritz Scholder, encouraged the students to expand their horizons and paint creatively, which many did.

There was a period in the 1970s and 80s when Namingha painted images of katsinas, Hopi landscapes, pueblo dances, and spiritual subjects.  This painting of a pair of Hopi Kachina Maidens is typical of his work from that period.  They are presented in a modern Picasso-like manner.   This is an excellent example of his work from that time.

The painting has just been framed.  The full image is viewable because it is floated on the yellow background so that mats do not cover any of the image.  Namingha painted to the edges of the paper.  All archival materials were used in framing and UV protective museum glass was used.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: On the backing paper of the original frame was written: “Kachina Maidens, for Pove Ne Nee from Saya, 1988.”  This was a gift to the recent owner, a granddaughter of Popovi Da, from whom we purchased it.

Recommended Reading:  Namingha by Author Unknown