Harrison (Haskay Yahne Yah) Begay (1917-2012) Navajo, Silkscreen. Signed and copyrighted bottom right. Depicts a mare and foal. 
Depth: 1 in. 
Overall size: 11 1/2 X 9 1/2 in. 
Sight size: 5 3/4 X 5 1/4 in. 
#1554 . 
Harrison Begay was born in November, 1917 in White Cone, Arizona, to a Navajo family. When he was eight Begay attended boarding school, where he heard English for the first time. When he was seventeen he entered the Santa Fe Indian School, which had an art education program. Begay graduated from Santa Fe in 1939 and studied architecture at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. He served as a muralist in the Works Projects Administration during the Depression, and served three years in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. Upon returning to civilian life he took the Navajo name “Haskay Yahne Yah,” which translates in English to “Warrior Who Walked Up to His Enemy.” During the 1950s Begay helped establish Tewa Enterprises in Santa Fe to make and sell reproductions of Native artwork, the first owned by indigenous people. His struggles with alcoholism caused him to often sell his work for far less than their estimated value to meet immediate needs for money. He won awards including the Palmes de Academiques in 1954 and first place at the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonies in 1967, 1969 and 1971. His art is included in almost every exhibition and publication on Native American painting, and can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of the American Indians in New York City. Harrison painted into his 80s despite his failing eyesight, eventually passing away in Greasewood, Arizona in 2012.