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A beautiful and exceptional Navajo Sandpainting tapestry weaving

by Lim Tsosie, awarded the 1st-Prize Blue Ribbon for Navajo weaving

at The Gallup, New Mexico Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, 1962

This weaving is a real winner, both literally and figuratively, having taken top honors for Navajo weaving

at the prestigious 1962 Gallup, New Mexico Inter-Tribal ndian Ceremonial where the competition for such awards

is intense, to put it mildly. The judges clearly saw the superiority of the weaving’s beautiful and classic design composbition, the perfectly chosen colors of the perfectly hand-spun and finely woven natural wool from Navajo Churro sheep and the extraordinarily precise and skilled overall artistic and technical execution.

“Navajo Sandpaintings are perhaps the most exotic form of American Indian Art.

Future historians will undoubtedly value sandpainting tapestries as the finest and rarest

Navajo weavings of the Twentieth Century”

-“Navajo Pictorial Weaving, 1880-1950” by Tyrone Campbell and

Kate and Joel Kopp, Dutton Studio Books, New York, 1991, pp. 107-108

Sandpainting weavings themselves are a relatively new variety and category of Navajo weaving only beginning in the early 1920’s when renowned Navajo Medicine Man, Hosteen Klah (1867-1937) in conjunction with Navajo language and religion scholar, Gladys A. Reichard, Santa Fe Museum patron, Mary Cabot Wheelwright and New Mexico Indian traders Frances and Arthur Newcomb, began committing the heretofore sacred Navajo curing sandpaintings into permanent textile form. Prior to Klah’s ground-breaking efforts, it was widely considered to be a complete cultural taboo to capture the sacred and purposefully temporal sandpaintings in any permanent lasting form. Only Hosteen Klah’s

exalted stature as a powerful medicine man and Reichard, Wheelwright’s desire to record these extraordinary tableaus for historic posterity’s sake allowed the taboo to be overcome and for Navajo sandpainting weavings to continue to

be created which goes on to this day.

Sandpainting Weavings by Hosteen Klah

At left, "The Night Sky" by Hosteen Klah, c. 1930's. At center, Hosteen Klah with one of his large sandpainting tapestries

at the Newcomb Trading Post, Navajo, New Mexico, c. 1927. At right, "Storm People" by Hosteen Klah, c. 1932-36.

Center photograph probably by Arthur or Frances Newcomb. Hosteen Klah (Hastiin Tłʼa, 1867–1937).

NAVAJO SANDPAINTINGS

Navajo Sandpaintings, also called dry paintings, are called "places where the gods come and go" in the Navajo language. They are used in curing ceremonies in which the gods' help is requested for harvests and healing. The figures in sand paintings are symbolic representations of a story in Navajo mythology. They depict objects like the sacred mountains where the gods live, or legendary visions, or they illustrate dances or chants performed in rituals.

According to Navajo belief, a sandpainting heals because the ritual image attracts and exalts the Holy People; serves as a pathway for the mutual exchange of illness and the healing power of the Holy People; identifies the patient with the Holy People it depicts; and creates a ritual reality in which the patient and the supernatural dramatically interact, reestablishing the patient's correct relationship with the world of the Holy People ( GriffinPierce 1992:43).

For the Navajo, the sandpainting is a dynamic, living, sacred entity that enables the patient to transform his or her mental and physical state by focusing on the powerful mythic symbols that re-create the chantway odyssey of the storys protagonist, causing those events to live again in the present."

-Text source and © NativePeople.org

The Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial

The annual Gallup, New Mexico Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial is one of the most important and well-attended events of the year in Indian Country. Thousands of Native Americans and many others come from all over the country and the world to attend. The Ceremonial features a variety of parades, dances, musical performances, rodeos and of course and perhaps most importantly the various and highly compteitive awards competition for various Native Arts and Crafts; textiles, pottery, metalsmithing, lapidary, basketry, beadwork, kachinas and more. This sandpainting tapestry was awarded the coveted First Prize Blue Ribbon

in the Navajo weaving competeition in 1962. The evocative photo at center above is by Laura Gilpin entitled "Onlooker at the Gallup Ceremonial, 1952".

Center photo source and © Laura Gilpin, The Amon Carter Museum of Art

The weaving was done by a clearly very highly-accomplished Navajo weaver named Lim Tsosie from the Navajo Nation’s capitol of Window Rock, Arizona. Other than their obviously formidable abilities, we know nothing more about this particular weaver. But, as Campbell and Kopp properly observe: “Because of their great complexity and the

mathematical calculations involved, they (sandpainting tapestries) were attempted by only the most accomplished weavers. And, interestingly, some weavers of sandpainting tapestries were paid extra in order to undergo a religious purification process”.

The powerful image presented in this tapestry weaving on its customary sand-colored background is that of two Navajo “Humpback Gods” with their characteristic feathered antennae and medicine bundles in front of them standing on either side of “Spider Woman” or “Holy Girl” holding sacred herbs amidst four directional sacred cornstalks. Versions of this particular image occur in The Navajo “Blessing Way” Chant and also with some differences in The “Night Way” Chant.

The weaving measures 34 3/4” in height and 41 1/4” in width and is woven primarily out of natural handspun Navajo Churro wool with possibly a small amount of some commercial wool and a combination of aniline and natural vegetal dyes. There are approximately 10 warps per inch and approximately 20 wefts per inch making for a fairly fine weave.

The weaving is in completely excellent original condition, it literally looks as if it was woven 63 days ago as opposed

to 63 years ago. There are no holes, no broken wefts or warps, no dye runs or any other damages in evidence.

“I feel that hardly any price is too high for the sandpainting tapestries because their value should not only be measured in effort, which can scarcely be measured, so extensive is it, but also in emotion.”

-Gladys P. Reichard, “A Navajo Shepherd and Weaver”,

Rio Grande Press, Glorieta, NM, 1968, pp.153

The "B" side of the weaving as seen above right looks virtually identical to the "A" side. The tassels and selvedges

are all completely intact all the way around. The original 1962 Gallup Ceremonial Blue Ribbon and attribution tag

are intact and still proudly attached to the upper left tassel of the weaving.

This piece is an extremely beautiful and prestigious Prize-winning Navajo weaving portraying an exceptional piece

of Navajo cultural and religious history, a blue-ribbon iconic Native American artwork to own and display with considerable pride and pleasure.

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