Beatien Yazz

Background

Beatien Yazz, born Jimmy Toddy, was born on March 5, 1928, on the Navajo Reservation, near Wide Ruins, Arizona, United States. Beatien Yazz translates to Little No Shirt.

Education

Beatien Yazz attended Mills College in 1947 and School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Career

At twelve years old, Yazz had his first sales, exhibiting his paintings. He received approximately $11 for the sale of twenty paintings. The following year, Yazz had a solo exhibition in November at the Art Center in La Jolla, California. Both the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union wrote articles touting the thirteen-year-old artist's work.

In the military service during World War II, Yazz joined the Code Talkers, a branch of the marines credited with shortening the war by using the Navajo language to confuse the Japanese.

In the summer of 1947, Yazz attended Mills College to study under the Japanese artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi, which gave him exposure to working with a live model using oil paint.

Beatien's works of art usually are casein on mat board, occasionally combining pen and ink with oils. Nationally known for his illustrations for children's books, Yazz is cited in Dorothy Dunn's book "American Indian Painting," in Clara Lee Tanner's "Southwest Indian Painting," and in the "Biographical Directory of Native American Painters" by Patrick Lester.

Beatien Yazz's works are included in the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Denver Art Museum, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Southwest Museum of Los Angeles, California to name a few.

Achievements

• Beattan Yazz is known for his famous children's book illustrations as well as for his award-winning paintings. He won awards at every major showing of Native American art in the United States. He was one of the best known contemporary Native American painters. His paintings are traditional with fine lines featuring everyday life on the Navajo Reservation.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Sacred Fire Dance

  • Sand Painter

  • Feather Dance

    1954

  • Child Watching Hummingbird

  • Diné (Navajo) Girl Enjoying the Breeze

  • Squaw Dance Procession

  • Siesta

Views

Beatien Yazz painted in the traditional mode with delicate use of lines featuring scenes of everyday life emphasizing people and animals, rather than landscapes.

Personality

Physical Characteristics: During the last 20 years of his life, Beatien Yazz suffered from severe eye problems. The medical doctors had not been able to determine what the problem was. A Navajo Medicine Man said it was because he once painted the Navajo sacred Yeibichai. To be cured, Yazz must undergo a purifying ceremony performed by the Medicine Man. This is very expensive and Yazz was never able to afford it.

Connections

Beatien Yazz was married to Ruby. They had 12 children altogether, seven sons and five daughters. Yazz's three oldest sons, Ervin, Kevin, and Marvin Toddy, are all artists.

Wife:

Ruby Yazz

Son:

Ervin Yazz

Son:

Kevin Yazz

Son:

Marvin Toddy Yazz

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, vol. 212
  2011