Post by Charnell
Quincy Tahoma had quite a sense of humor and he loved surprises. His entire life, Vera and I discovered on our research journey, was not always what it seemed. Surprise!
1950 Surprise in the Sage, Courtesy of Jean Wallace McSwain
Tahoma’s mastery of surprises was brilliantly delivered in his paintings. He loved to paint a horse surprised by a skunk – or two – or three! And the “next chapter” cartouche in the bottom right of the painting would often show a rider thrown from his surprised mount or riderless horses galloping off to get away from the fumes. He even painted one to adorn a drive-in theater.
1944 Bad Luck, Courtesy of Jan Musial
People who saw the Navajo artist’s painting of three horses scared by skunks were so taken by the scene when they saw the first one displayed at the New Mexico Museum of Art that Tahoma painted additional ones over the years. Colors and positions of the animals varied a little, but the theme was the same. He enjoyed considerable good luck from the horses’ bad luck!
- 1943 unnamed surprise attack, Courtesy of Marilyn Cassabonne
Quincy also envisioned a cougar about to pounce on an unsuspecting horse and brave, and he brought this surprise attack to life in multiple paintings, including one that was featured in an Encyclopedia Brittanica entry on Navajos.
You can see these surprise “look-alikes”, along with Tahoma’s other favorite replicated images in the forthcoming book, Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist. You will be amazed by the Navajo artist’s ability to recreate a scene years later without benefit of revisiting the first of the series. What talent and what a pleasant surprise!
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Some surprises are good and some not so–like a skunk frightening your horse. What has been your best surprise ever? Your most memorable not-so-good surprise? (Remember if you are not reading this at the blog site, you need to click on the title Surprise, Surprise! in order to be able to comment)
