Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds (Males Fighting)
Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds (Males Fighting)
Artist
Toh Yah (Gerald Nailor)
(Navajo, 1917 - 1952)
Date1951
MediumGouache on paper
Dimensions10 1/4 × 12 3/4 in. (26 × 32.4 cm)
Framed: 20 × 22 in.
Framed: 20 × 22 in.
ClassificationsWatercolor
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2020.55
Accession number
2020.55
On View
Not on viewLabel TextIn Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds (Males Fighting), Toh Yah painted one hummingbird from an aerial view and one from below, creating a sense of movement in flight. The hummingbirds, fighting alongside the Yei (spirits), illustrate the bond between creatures of nature and the spirit world. Toh Yah and his Santa Fe Indian School classmate Harrison Begay founded Tewa Enterprises which produced Navajo and Pueblo silk-screen prints, based on designs like this one.
En Colibríes de garganta rubí (machos peleando), Toh Yah pintó a un colibrí desde una vista aérea y a otro desde abajo, creando la sensación de movimiento del vuelo. Los colibríes, que pelean al lado de los yei (espíritus), simbolizan el vínculo entre las criaturas de la naturaleza y el mundo espiritual. Toh Yah y su compañero de la Santa Fe Indian School, Harrison Begay, fundaron Tewa Enterprises, que producía serigrafías navajo y pueblo basadas en diseños como este.
