Navajo Woman

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: Johnson Antonio
Date: 1986
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
Luce Foundation Center
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3rd Floor
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27A
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: cottonwood
Mediums Description: carved and painted cottonwood
Classifications: Sculpture
Subjects: Indian — Navajo
Figure female — elderly — full length
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.