Navajo Woman

Copied Johnson Antonio, Navajo Woman, 1986, carved and painted cottonwood, 13 3⁄8 x 3 1⁄2 x 3 in. (34.0 x 8.9 x 7.7 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak, 1987.62

Artwork Details

Title
Navajo Woman
Artist
Date
1986
Location
Dimensions
13 3⁄8 x 3 1⁄2 x 3 in. (34.0 x 8.9 x 7.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak
Mediums
Mediums Description
carved and painted cottonwood
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure female — elderly — full length
  • Indian — Navajo
Object Number
1987.62
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1987.62

Artwork Description

Johnson Antonio carves Navajo figures from cottonwood, using an axe to form a rough shape, and a pocketknife to create the detail. He paints the surface with house paint, watercolors, and dleesh, a fragile white clay used by the Navajos to paint their bodies, and sometimes adds real animal hair or horns (Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia, 1990). In Navajo Woman and Rabbit Hunter the rough surfaces reflect the harshness of survival on the slopes of New Mexico's Bisti hills.