Original Painting of a Navajo Sacred Ceremony [R]

Arthur Begay shared his time between being an electrician and an artist.  He was born in 1931 on the Navajo Reservation at Newcomb, New Mexico.  He attended Phoenix (AZ) High School and Famous Artist’s School in Westport, Connecticut.  He lived for most of his life near Newcomb, New Mexico, not far from Two Grey Hills Trading Post. In the 1950s, he won a fellowship to study under the famous Saturday Evening Post illustrator, Norman Rockwell, and spent a year working in Rockwell's studio in Westport, CT.

Arthur's work has many characteristic features learned from Rockwell, yet he was at the same time a known Navajo artist and an elusive character. He seemed to be somewhat nomadic, as is traditionally Navajo, and not necessarily interested in either fame or fortune. The quality of his work, when it is available, is what has given him the "fame" that he has. He had a great love for Monument Valley and Shiprock. It is the setting for many if not most of his paintings. The vivid colors of the sandstone buttes and the unusual intricate forms or "monuments" made a spectacular backdrop for scenes of daily Navajo life.

This painting of four Navajo facing what may be Mt. Taylor near Gallup, New Mexico, was executed in vivid, yet muted, colors as were most of Begay’s paintings.  The Navajo are offering sacred corn meal in a traditional Navajo ceremony to the mountain spirits.  The men are dressed in traditional clothing, not cowboy or western wear.  The females are in traditional pleated skirts and colorful velveteen blouses.  All four are wearing moccasins and wrapped in Navajo blankets.  The painting is signed in lower right but not dated.

Condition: appears to be in original condition

Recommended Reading: Brody, J. J. Indian Painters and White Patrons, UNM Press, Albuquerque, 1971

Provenance: from the collection of a gentleman from Florida