David Chethlahe Paladin
Sand Painting with Kokopelli Figures, 1970s
Sand and pigment on board
12 x 9 inches
Signed recto.
Signed recto.
Sand painting with numerous Southwestern images including a snake, turtle, and sun, as well as two depictions of the lute-playing fertility deity Kokopelli, one traditional and the other the more...
Sand painting with numerous Southwestern images including a snake, turtle, and sun, as well as two depictions of the lute-playing fertility deity Kokopelli, one traditional and the other the more modern inception of the character.
David was born on the Navajo Reservation in 1926 at Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, the son of a Najavo mother and Euro-American Missionary father. He was educated at the Santa Fe Indian School, where he was taught by Dorothy Dunn. He initially struggled with his mixed race identity, falling into alcoholism early in life, and eventually left the reservation and lied about his age to join the merchant marines. He enlisted in the US Army, gathering information and relaying it stateside in his native language. He was captured, interrogated, and tortured but his life was ultimately spared by a German officer whom he had befriended years earlier during his time with the merchant marines. When he was rescued by the allies, he was found barely alive, and speaking Russian, which he later claimed was because he had energetically merged with and began to channel the pioneering abstract artist Wassily Kandisky. After a stint at a VA hospital, he returned to the reservation and experienced a spiritual rebirth, becoming a shaman and serving as a spiritual counselor to other recovering addicts.
Newsweek, cited as nation's "leading Navajo modern artist," 1975; Carnegie Medal for Achievement in the Arts; Cambridge University Distinguished Service to the Arts and Education Commendation, 1970; International Biographical Center, London, England, Distinguished Service in Education and the Arts, 1976; and Distinguished Achievement Award, 1976; Italian Academy of Art, Gold Medal, 1981; Santa Fean Magazine, Artist of the Year, 1981.
His work is signed “Chethlahe” because, in his words:
“The name I was given was "Chethlahe" which is Navajo for Little-Turtle-Who-Cries-in-the-Night. I was born prematurely so I was too small for the cradle board they placed me in. I would disappear from sight as I slid down to the bottom of the cradle board and then I would let out a scream until someone would pull me out. I guess I must have reminded my family of a turtle which hides its head in its shell. I have chosen to use that name as the signature on my art.”
David was born on the Navajo Reservation in 1926 at Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, the son of a Najavo mother and Euro-American Missionary father. He was educated at the Santa Fe Indian School, where he was taught by Dorothy Dunn. He initially struggled with his mixed race identity, falling into alcoholism early in life, and eventually left the reservation and lied about his age to join the merchant marines. He enlisted in the US Army, gathering information and relaying it stateside in his native language. He was captured, interrogated, and tortured but his life was ultimately spared by a German officer whom he had befriended years earlier during his time with the merchant marines. When he was rescued by the allies, he was found barely alive, and speaking Russian, which he later claimed was because he had energetically merged with and began to channel the pioneering abstract artist Wassily Kandisky. After a stint at a VA hospital, he returned to the reservation and experienced a spiritual rebirth, becoming a shaman and serving as a spiritual counselor to other recovering addicts.
Newsweek, cited as nation's "leading Navajo modern artist," 1975; Carnegie Medal for Achievement in the Arts; Cambridge University Distinguished Service to the Arts and Education Commendation, 1970; International Biographical Center, London, England, Distinguished Service in Education and the Arts, 1976; and Distinguished Achievement Award, 1976; Italian Academy of Art, Gold Medal, 1981; Santa Fean Magazine, Artist of the Year, 1981.
His work is signed “Chethlahe” because, in his words:
“The name I was given was "Chethlahe" which is Navajo for Little-Turtle-Who-Cries-in-the-Night. I was born prematurely so I was too small for the cradle board they placed me in. I would disappear from sight as I slid down to the bottom of the cradle board and then I would let out a scream until someone would pull me out. I guess I must have reminded my family of a turtle which hides its head in its shell. I have chosen to use that name as the signature on my art.”