THE TONY BEGAY STORY

A tragic accident on August 1, 1973 took the life of Tony Begay, one of the most promising of Southwest Indian artists.

Tony Begay was born on the Navajo Reservation on May 30, 1941, the son of Seth Begay and Lucy Tanesini. His early education combined attendance at the Indian School, Chinle, Arizona, and in the Brigham City, Utah, public schools. It is said that from the age of six he had artistic inclinations, as he frequently drew characters from the comics. While attending St. Michaels High School, from which he was graduated in 1959, he was encouraged by the nuns in his art efforts. To be sure, he had some art guidance on the elementary and secondary levels in Reservation schools. However, the only formal art training Tony had was in the American School of Commercial Art, Dallas, Texas, for one year. His graphics attest to excellent training in the latter school.

Tony's chosen career as an artist was interrupted by a four-year stint in the Marine Corps from 1962-1966; he was on duty in both Japan and the Phillipine Islands. That he did little serious painting during this period is indicated in a listing of his competitive awards which did not begin until the year after he left the Marines, 1967. However, he was not completely distracted from art during this period of service for he produced a few sketches and he painted murals at Camps Horno and Pendleton, California, in both instances at the officers' clubs.

For the academic year 1970-71, Tony Begay was employed as staff artist and illustrator at the Navajo Community College, Many Farms, Arizona. Among other duties here he prepared the Student Handbook and several brochures, and designed the graduation certificates for this Indian college.

It has been said by one of Tony Begay's critics that his work represented the "expanding creativity" of the Indians as much as, or more than, any other single individual of Indian blood and heritage. Certainly his styles of painting reflect this. And "styles" is used advisedly, for just several months before his death he said to this writer, "I am still looking for that certain style," and indeed he had not settled down to any one expression.

Tony's own youth is reflected in the laughing eyes, in the mischief in pursed lips, in the whimsy so cleverly displayed in young faces. But his limited years did not short-cut his understanding of older folk, nor did they distract from his artistic ability, for portraits of the elderly were not only realistic in total and overall presentations but also included the neartoothless grins, the accumulations of life's wrinkles surrounding laughing eyes, the last gray strand in a generous head of hair. In some paintings, as might well be expected, he combines realism and a not-so-realistic style. In one example, a Navajo and his horse are most realistically presented, the horse beautifully modelled. However, the background is done in a generalized fashion.

Regardless of medium or style, his lines were meticulous, studied; often it was in his graphics that each hair on the head of a subject is individually represented. It was here too, that Tony Begay reflected the Indian's keen sense of line and form, clean-cut and precise. Yet, withal, Tony was far removed from the dominance of linear pattern and flat color of the more decorative style portrayed by many Indian artists. Rarely did he attempt the so-called traditional Indian flat style; the antithesis of this was full European perspective, from complete Tony Begay was less known than any of the distinguished Indian artists and craftsmen who gave of their hearts and resources in an unprecedented tribute of love, respect and human kindness.

foreground to the same type of background with complete modelling in many figures. He was much more sophisticated than many another Indian artist as he painted in this full or nearly full European-style modelling, to give roundness to facial features, depth to canyon wall, movement to the muscles of a horse's body. More so than many another Indian artist, he was making the break from decorative art into the realm of fine art. Certainly, Tony was influenced in one way or another, consciously or unconsciously, and in the broad sense, by his contemporaries, for surely no artist exists alone. In one painting an old-style Navajo warrior stands on the top of a windy knoll in the manner of the Apache painter, Allan Houser, with all the shrubbery and the horse's mane and tail blowing. But in the inimitable Tony fashion, the shield is carefully designed, the man's "boots" are unquestionably of the old Navajo high buttoned style, and the heavy necklace on the bare upper body is coral, a material so favored by his ancestors.

Rich, dark colors were featured by Tony Begay. If painting a ceremonial scene in a hogan, the timber walls would be in deep browns. So too were three medicine men portrayed in somber colors in such a setting, but the dark colors in no way detracted from their earnest efforts of chanting, nor from their individuality, nor from details of dress one with a typical large hat, one with a colorful headband, and one with his hair done up in the traditional chongo or figure-eight at the nape of the neck. Somber browns and blacks prevailed also in a portrait of a young fellow, adding to the dark mood represented in the face and in the brooding eyes. Yet here again, the darkness is relieved in a rich reddish-colored head band.

Abstraction had slight appeal for Tony Begay, but his curiosity and wide interest in most forms of art were piqued by this style of painting. One effort in this direction is titled, "Turquoise for my Body." Two hands hold large chunks of turquoise, with a broad band of dots emanating from the stone to the top of the page, almost giving life to the precious stuff. Below are multicolored bands with a tiny human figure in one “Working together kindles the fires of friendship and understanding”

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of them; this figure verifies the title as it is black with a turquoise stomach. Another abstract was similar to this, with two fairly realistic hands into which geometric rays are penetrating, with many dots about.

A pen and ink with wash over the latter makes for an interesting piece, titled "Natural Stairway"; is an excellent work of art. Great rocks so characteristic of the Hopi mesas are graphically represented; down them comes a Hopi aided by a stick. This medium lent itself admirably to realism and detail.

One other tendency found in some of Begay's work was to stylize certain ceremonial figures, particularly those of Yei-bechai dancers. Never do they become wooden as so frequently found in the paintings of some Navajo artists. Never do they assume the stiffness of Yei figures in sandpaintings, but they do sometimes lose their full realism.

Much of Tony Begay's work was superbly crafted. Too, even though he might have been inspired by others, he displayed that "unaffected individuality" in his painting mentioned above. He was creative in his use of color and line and form, and he was ever responsive in his styles of painting to the beauty of his environment and the warmth of his tribesmen.

Hand in hand with his emphasis on realistic painting was Begay's preference for genre subjects, and particularly the everyday life, past and present, of his own tribe. He painted the people currently about him, above all the Navajos of his beloved homeland, or the Plainsmen, or other Indian tribes when visiting them. Frequently he did portraits, often capturing definite individualistic traits. His own people liked his portrayals of their tribesmen, for they bespoke Tony Begay's love for them.

Tony also featured characters from Navajo history in his art. However, whether a long-gone chief or a living child, whether a general figure of an Indian or a portrait, Tony had the talent to tell much about his subject, often in facial traits as mentioned or sometimes in details of dress. If he painted one of his tribesmen, he or she was Navajo, particularly in facial details and often in a typical puckering of the lips; if a Plainsman, he was distinguished by pronounced facial features; if a Taos Indian, he was represented with care, showing the inevitable long braids and white blanket worn by the men of the tribe.

Often in general presentations as well as portraits, Begay was capable of revealing the many moods of humans anger in the eyes of a disquieted Navajo woman, grief in the blanketed and huddled body as well as the stricken face of a Hopi mother who had lost her beloved son, dignity in the countenance and bearing of a Navajo medicine man, fright in the downturned mouth and distracted eyes of a child, defeat in the bent shoulders and bowed head of a Plains Indian. Such qualities in realistic portrayals carried over into one of the few abstracts Tony painted, these to be noted in the glarey, almost glazed eyes of "another world" of a peyote ceremonialist.

Begay painted few full figure individuals just standing, for more frequently they were riding horseback, in groups, sitting, or painted in other relationships common to Indian people. One full figure of a Navajo man may have been painted in this simple manner so that he could emphasize the old-time costume and jewelry, complete with a red and white striped blanket over his shoulder and a necklace with a plain but beautiful naja pendant.

Like most Navajos, Begay enjoyed painting horses, with or without riders. In one painting, equal attention is given to a human who is at the moment sitting on a ledge contentedly looking at the Navajo vista, his horse standing quietly behind him. He was most sophisticated in his presentations of animals, and most particularly of horses in their physical structure and proportions, in their movements and actions. Horse and riders may be in the far distance, tiny figures at the base of a cliff. Or, contrarily, they may seem but a few feet away from the viewer, filling a good portion of a large paper or canvas. In the latter style, detail leaves little to be desired, for Begay was a master at making any figure or scene complete, from the horses anatomy to saddle and saddle blanket, from sand grains to cliffs and buttes. Frequently he painted scenery alone.

In one canyon scene the wagon ruts in sand are so realistic that one feels he could just about follow their contour if he should touch the painting with his hand. And it is not amiss to mention again his paintings of sandstone cliffs, buttes, pin-nacles, and other natural features of his tribal lands. One such water color, "Canyon de Chelly," varies coloring in red cliffs nearby, purple ones in the background, and leaves of trees which are turning yellow. In contrast to this a pack trip scene depicting an old man on horseback leading two pack animals is in various shades of blue. Many of his paintings of land-scapes would seem to indicate that this young artist was begin-ning to find himself in this subject and style. Perhaps this is also an indication of his great admiration for Andrew Wyeth, an artist who must have influenced Tony Begay, for the latter had great admiration for the Anglo artist. His last paintings of cliffs were remarkable in indicating stratification in varied colors or different shades of one color, especially red, and in other details of rock formation.

Like his fellow tribal artists, Tony painted ceremonial sub-ject matter. Although usually Navajo, sometimes he caught the religious spirit of other tribes as well; three chanting Taos men would be a good sample of this. In one of his Yeibechai dancers his treatment was a close-up of the performers. It was in presenting these dancers that Tony Begay sometimes verged on a stylized treatment. He painted sandpainter scenes, some-times with the sand picture on the floor of a hogan, and with proper equipment, such as bowls with colored sands, about the room.

Close to the above ceremonial subjects and richly serving Indian artists are traditions and legends. Also closely related to these last topics or, even, a part of them, is symbolic design, a subject often painted by Southwest Indians. Probably some such idea was in Tony's mind when he painted stark bands of rich and contrasting orange, black, and yellow, against which he pictures a buffalo skull. One horn is blue, one red, while one side of the face area of the skull is lighter blue, the other lighter red. Balance and symmetry are featured.

Begay was recognized for his creative artistry, for his ability in handling all of the above media, particularly in oils, graphics, and water-based paints, and for his breadth of subject matter. Nearly fifty awards were given to him between 1970 and the date of his untimely death on August 1, 1973. Of particular import were Grand Awards at the Red Cloud Indian Art Show, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and the same at the Sheridan, Wyoming, competitive exhibit. Bestowed upon him, also, was the coveted Read Mullan Award at the Scottsdale National Show, Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1971, for a mixed media painting. Other special awards came to him from the Navajo Tribal Fair, Window Rock, Arizona, and the Sheridan exhibits.

Tony Begay was acknowledged nine times by his own people in 1971 at their Tribal Fair when he received, among others, three First Place and two Second Place Awards. One or more First, Second, or Third Awards further acknowledged his superior art at the following exhibits: Arizona State Fair, Phoenix, Arizona; the Scottsdale Show, Scottsdale, Arizona; Red Cloud Competitive Show, Sheridan, Wyoming; Intertribal Indian Ceremonials at Gallup, New Mexico; Tanner's of Scottsdale; Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Heard Museum of Anthropology and Art in Phoenix, Arizona; Navajo Community College, Many Farms, Arizona; and the New Mexico State Fair at Albuquerque.

Further special recognition came to Tony Begay on several occasions. One Man Shows were held for him at "The Gallery," Woodards, in Gallup, New Mexico, and at the Heard Museum. His paintings also were featured in a Two Man Show in Phoenix and a Five Man Show in San Marcos, California.

Tony Begay was one of the newer and brighter countenances pioneering into fresh trails in art, yes, perhaps not yet at the top, but with "full strength ahead." So much of his work carried a message to all who tarried and contemplated - a message of beauty, understanding, and strength. All who knew him could not but feel Tony's warmth and gentleness of spirit.

Tony Begay was well liked by his own people. His quiet reserve, his gentle nature, his sense of humor were appealing to all. Many old blanketed Indians attended his funeral where they quietly demonstrated genuine emotion, thus attesting to his wide appeal within his own tribe. That he had many friends is indicated in this incident: immediately after his funeral a group of Indians from several different tribes, Sioux, Santo Domingo, Navajo, determined to bring together some of their best artistic resources to sell in order to establish a fund in his honor and for his children. Unbelievable are the numbers of individuals from additional tribes who have joined in this tribute to a beloved Indian artist.

When the sun set on Tony Begay's life, a bright spark in the art world flickered and burned to its end.