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A sensational Kenneth Begay Modernist-Style
Navajo silver “Butterfly” bracelet, White Hogan Shop, Scottsdale, Arizona, c. 1950’s-60's
Is it a bird or is it a spaceship? No, it’s actually a silver stylized “Butterfly” cuff bracelet with two big, beautiful silver “wings”. The brilliant Kenneth Begay (1913-1977) is the only Navajo silversmith we know of with the artistic imagination and technical virtuosity to pull this off. And what a superb feat of virtuouso derring-do it is. This inspired by nature design actually looks like it is flying, the silver wingspan gives it a soaring kind of lightness as if it was floating like
a large shining butterfly upon the wrist. And for a fairly good-sized piece of jewelry, it is surprisingly light and comfortable on the arm.
Kenneth Begay’s exceptional Navajo silverwork is at once classic, modern, elegant, graceful, perfectly conceived
and just as perfectly crafted. It is, quite simply, revered everywhere fine Navajo silversmithing is understood and appreciated. Its exceptional beauty even provided the original inspiration for the now World-renowned Hopi jeweler, Charles Loloma (1921-1991), to begin making jewelry. This bracelet is an absolutely perfect example, beautifully and architecturally built, composed of a central silver core which is what contacts and encircles the wrist. Rising up sharply at about a 45 degree angle from both sides from this central core are two large silver “wings”, each about
3/4" in width. Both the core or "body" and the "wings" are decorated with a pattern of beautifully executed parallel
stamp worked and chiseled three-part designs in a leaf-like or "Butterfly" wings design.
White Hogan Shop owvers, Virginia and John Bonnell , Kenneth Begay and silversmith Allan Kee, Scottsdale, Arizona c. 1950's.
Photo source and © Arizona Republic.
"I like to create something new and still use the old Navajo design style.”
-Kenneth Begay
The White Hogan Shop
Located in downtown Scottsdale, Arizona and founded by John and Virginia Bonnell and Kenneth Begay, The White Hogan Shop created and established a new, more streamlined Modernist aesthetic for Navajo silverwork using traditional Navajo silversmithing techniques to make an entire range of beautiful, elegant, streamlined jewelry creations as well as household
items and home furnishings such as table lamps, pen holders, chess sets, bar ware, money clips, shoehorns and other items all beautifully made by Kenneth Begay and his all-star team of brilliant Navajo and other Native silversmiths, including his cousins, George, Allan and Ivan Kee and Nicholas Gambino and others.
“White Hogan gave Begay the freedom to break out from the traditional designs practiced by most Navajo silversmiths at the time. His designs quickly became less cluttered and more sophisticated, and, by the 1950s, he was winning countless awards at fairs and exhibits in the Southwest.”
-Quotation source and © (Messier and Messier (2004:106) Arizona State Museum
Kenneth Begay (1913–1977) was called the "Father of modern Navajo jewelry" for his clean, bold, modern designs. But he also exemplifies the long history and continuity of Navajo jewelry-making: Begay studied under Fred Peshlakai, who had been taught by his father, Slender Maker of Silver, who was trained by Atsidi Chon, one of the earliest Navajo silversmiths. Begay in turn taught many others including his son, Harvey, now a renowned jeweler.
-From “Totems to Turquoise”, The American Museum of Natural History
The bracelet measures 1 1/2" at its widest center point and tapers down to 7/8" in width at the terminal ends. The inner circumference end-to-end is 5 1/2" and the gap between the terminals is 1 1/8" for a total interior circumference of
6 5/8". The bracelet weighs a very comfortable and easy to wear 72 grams or 2 1/2 ounces. The bracelet is in remarkably excellent original vintage condition and particularly so for its 60-70 or so years of age with some age-appropriate wear and a beautiful fine soft patina to the silver. The bracelet is properly signed with Kenneth Begay’s customary “KB” initials inside a serrated box hallmark and it is also marked "Sterling" and "Hand Made" and stamped with the domed Navajo Hogan insignia of Scottsdale, Arizona’s famed White Hogan Shop where Kenneth Begay was a partner and
Chief silversmith for many years.
Fly high above all wearing this unique and elegant creation; a beautiful soaring natural creature
touching down and resting gracefully upon the earth.
Price $8,450
