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Klah Tso ( nv, ) (mid-19th – early 20th century) was a
Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...
painter. He is considered a pioneer Navajo easel painter.


Background

Klah Tso was also known as Big Lefthanded, Big Lefthanded Chou,"Big Lefthanded (Klah Tso) Chou."
''Ask Art.'' (retrieved 14 Feb 2011)
or Old Hostin Claw. He should not be confused with
Hastiin Klah , , birth_date = 1867 , birth_place = Bear Mountain, near Fort Wingate, New Mexico , death_date = February 27, 1937 , death_place = , nationality = American / Navajo , spouse = , field = Weaver, artist and ...
, the Navajo weaver, or Choh, the Navajo graphic artist.Lester 65 He lived near
Tuba City, Arizona Tuba City ( nv, ) is an unincorporated town in Coconino County, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, United States. It is the second-largest community in Coconino County. The population of the census-designated place (CDP) was 8,611 at the 2010 cen ...
, or possibly Indian Wells. He was a traditional singer.Wyman 30


Artwork

From around 1902 to 1915, Klah Tso created equestrian and ceremonial paintings using natural pigments applied with a stick. The Navajo agent and trader, Matthew M. Murphy collected 29 of Klah Tso's drypaintings, which were believed to be created between 1905 and 1912. Klah Tso also adopted a variety of Western materials such as oil, gouache, tempera, and colored pencil. He painted representational, narrative works on brown cotton cloth."Conservation of anthropological artwork."
''National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology.'' (retrieved 14 Feb 2011)
Several of Klah Tso's works are in the collections of the
National Anthropological Archives The National Anthropological Archives is a collection of historical and contemporary documents maintained by the Smithsonian Institution, which document the history of anthropology and the world's peoples and cultures. It is located in the Smi ...
. ''The Ride'' portrays a line of Navajo riders following a man with a ceremonial staff. There is no background but the horses are kicking up a cloud of dust on the tan-dyed cotton cloth background. While some of his works are secular in subject matter, many portray Navajo ceremonies. Jeanne O. Snodgrass wrote that he created, "one of the loveliest known early American Indian paintings" to be seen by non-Natives. His work is also in the
Museum of Northern Arizona The Museum of Northern Arizona is a museum in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States, that was established as a repository for Indigenous material and natural history specimens from the Colorado Plateau. The museum was founded in 1928 by zoologist ...
, Katherine Harvey Collection in
Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has an estimated population ...
.


See also

*
List of Native American artists This is a list of visual artists who are Native Americans in the United States. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 defines "Native American" as being enrolled in either federally recognized tribes or state recognized tribes or "an individua ...
*
Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which includes ...


Notes


References

* Lester, Patrick D. ''The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. . *Wyman, Leland Clifton. ''Sandpaintings of the Navaho Shootingway and the Walcott Collection.'' Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970.


Further reading

* Wyman, Leland Clifton. "Big Lefthanded, Pioneer Navajo Artist." ''Plateau''. Number 40, Summer 1967: 1-13.


External links


Images of Klah Tso's work at the National Anthropological Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klah Tso Navajo painters 19th-century births People from Coconino County, Arizona Year of birth missing Year of death missing