Navajo Folk Art "Cut Out" by artist Mamie Deschillie

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Navajo Folk Art "Cut Out" by artist Mamie Deschillie

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Sold Date: 11/27/2008
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Ethnic, Folk & Native American Art

Mamie Deschille

BIOGRAPHY

The Grandma Moses of Native American folk art, she is generally credited with popularizing this category. Traditionally raised on the Reservation in New Mexico, she left school after the second grade and helped her family by herding the sheep and goats. Like Grandma Moses, she didn't "become" an artist until she was beyond middle age. Her first formal creative efforts were dried clay figures, like the toys of her childhood and that of her children. These little renderings of sheep, horses and riders were rooted in Navajo tradition, but never before made for sale, and never regarded as more than fragile amusements. Mrs. Deschillie's creativity added scraps of cloth, fleece, horsehair, and bright paint, and her own whimsical sense of humor. Her later work, that she calls "cutouts" are larger figures cut from cardboard boxes and brown grocery bags. These animals, ranging from goats and cows to giraffes and elephants, are painted and dressed in bits of fabric, beads, or whatever is available and appealing to her. She has also enlarged her artistic horizon to include tempera paintings of biblical stories and Navajo landscapes. Whatever she does, Mamie Deschillie's work exhibits her wonderful ability to see a universe in her own little world, and to share her imagination and youthful sense of fun with us all.

Her work has been displayed in Galleries and Museums around the world, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

This Goat cut out has beautiful detailing, as seen in the pics. The Oak Frame is 17" x 16", and is about 1 1/2" deep. The "cut out" is mounted to a faux suede background. The glass has been removed from the frame to create a beautiful shadow box effect.

This is a beautiful piece of Navajo Folk Art by artist renowned artist Mamie Deschille. You will not be disappointed.