Artist

Leonard Willeto

born 1955-died 1984
Media - willeto_charlie_with_family.jpg - 90564
Charlie Willeto and family, undated. Digital scan of a damaged Polaroid. Image is courtesy of the Chuck and Jan Rosenak research material, 1990-1999, in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Active in
  • Nageezi, New Mexico, United States
Biography

Leonard Willeto was the son of well-known wood-carvers Charlie Willeto and Elizabeth Willeto Ignacio, and began carving in the 1970s. When he was sixteen years old he was run over by a pickup truck, was permanently disfigured and left school. Willeto carved no more than a hundred dolls before he committed suicide on August 2, 1984 (Chuck and Jan Rosenak, The People Speak: Navajo Folk Art, 1994).

Works by this artist (55 items)

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Elizabeth Olds, Miners, 1937, color lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from D.C. Public Library, 1967.72.195
Miners
Artist
Date1937
color lithograph
Not on view
Image Not Available
Harlem Dancers
Artist
Date1939
color woodcut on paper
Not on view
Elizabeth Olds, Scrap Iron, ca. 1935-1940, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Audrey McMahon, 1968.98.20
Scrap Iron
Artist
Dateca. 1935-1940
lithograph on paper
Not on view
Elizabeth Olds, Two Terns Parading, 1955, color woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1984.31.1
Two Terns Parading
Artist
Date1955
color woodcut on paper
Not on view