Cree Creation Legend

"According to an ancient Cree legend, the world used to be in the belly of a fish spirit.  It was a small but happy world.  One day, badger and bear began to fight over the fish they ate.  Bear tore a hole in the fish.  Sun escaped first through the hole.  It dried the fish's back and it became the earth as we know it now."

(1926-1984) Painting the Dream: the Visionary Art of Navajo Painter David Chethlahe Paladin was published in 1992 by the artist's widow, Lynda Paladin. This artist credited Marc Chagall, Mark Tobey and Morris Graves as influencing his approach to painting as well as how he treated his subject matter.

The Huichol Indians' work also impacted the appearance of his art. For 2 1/2 years Paladin was a prisoner of war, released finally at Dachau in a near coma state.

In 1975 Newsweek cited him as the nation's "leading Navajo modern artist". The Santa Fean magazine named him Artist of the Year in 1981.

Major exhibitions of his work have taken place at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth (1966), at the Heard Museum (1967, 1975), at the William Penn Memorial Museum in Pittsburgh (1969), at the Albuquerque Museum (1975, 1985), at the American Indian Art Center in New York (1975), at the Navajo Tribal Museum in Window Rock, Arizona (1984), at the San Diego Museum of Man (1985) and at the Museum of Art at the University of Arizona in Tucson (1988).