Dancing for the Rain Gods

Michelle Tsosie Naranjo

Dancing for the Rain Gods, Paintings by Michelle Tsosie Naranjo
  • Michelle Tsosie painting
  • Navajo painting
Marked Down $485.00
Gallery Price $750.00
Title
Dancing for the Rain Gods
Artist
Michelle Tsosie Naranjo
Medium
Water-based media on handmade paper
Paper size
19" height X 6 1/2" width
Frame
Triple mats, regular glass, copper metal molding. Some scratches on molding.
Frame size
26 1/4" height X 13 1/4" width
Signed
"So Whu Wah Tuno © " at viewer's lower right on recto
Date of creation
Unknown (prior to 1998)
Condition
Excellent, as appeared framed, glazed.
Provenance
Christie's Auction, November 1997, AP Fenderson collection APF
About The Dancing for the Rain Gods

On persimmon-colored paper there are three (3) stylized mask images and at the bottom a stylized dancing figure wearing a similar mask and feathered headdress.

One reviewer wrote :

"Michelle Tsosie Naranjo’s delicate watercolors possess a mystery and magic that doesn’t reek of forced spirituality. Her curious, abstracted mask forms float ambiguously on sheets of handmade rice paper, textured and saturated with deep blue and magenta pigments."

About Michelle Tsosie Naranjo

Born in Albuquerque in 1959, Michelle is the daughter of Carol and Paul Tsosie (Navajo).  Her marriage to a Santa Clara man shifted her orientation to Espanola, an urban center in the heart of the Rio Grande Pueblos, impacting the subject matter of her paintings.

In July 1989 she was awarded the Best of Fine Arts at the Fortieth Navajo Show at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Her work was included in an exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Man titled "Paths Beyond Tradition" (May 20-September 4. 1989).

Naranjo's work is in the permanent collection of the Heard Museum and she has won several First place awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market, as well as the Patrick Swazo Hinds Memorial Award for the most Promising Painter in 1981.

An artist featured in Patricia Broder's impressive publication Earth Songs, Moon Dreams Paintings by American Indian Women,we are told of the Naranjo's involvement with fashion as well as art.  

 

Other Works By Michelle Tsosie Naranjo:
  • Maiden Masks, Paintings by Michelle Tsosie Naranjo
  • Untitled #2, Paintings by Michelle Tsosie Naranjo
  • Shades of Mauve Horse & Rider, Paintings by Michelle Tsosie Naranjo
  • Abstract Masks, Paintings by Michelle Tsosie Naranjo
Cultures

American Indian, Women Artists

Medium

Paintings

Subject

American Indians

Keywords

Michelle Tsosie Naranjo, Michelle Tsosie painting, Navajo painting