Oliver Morris-Jones
Specialist, Post War & Contemporary Art
Lot 1A
EMMI WHITEHORSE(B. 1957)Untitled
14 May 2025, 17:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$48,640 inc. premium
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Rachel Griffith
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EMMI WHITEHORSE (B. 1957)
Untitled
signed, inscribed and dated '#999 untitled AUG. 93 Emmi Whitehorse' (on the reverse)
acrylic, dry pigments, charcoal, pastel and graphite on paper laid on canvas
40 5/8 x 28 1/2 in (103 x 72.4 cm)
Executed in 1993
signed, inscribed and dated '#999 untitled AUG. 93 Emmi Whitehorse' (on the reverse)
acrylic, dry pigments, charcoal, pastel and graphite on paper laid on canvas
40 5/8 x 28 1/2 in (103 x 72.4 cm)
Executed in 1993
Footnotes
Provenance
LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1993.
Exhibited
Santa Fe, LewAllen Gallery, Emmi Whitehorse, August 6 - 28, 1993.
Born to a family of nomadic sheep herders in Crowpoint, New Mexico, Emmi Whitehorse's use of imagery and symbolism reflect a childhood deeply rooted in nature and a strong relationship with the outside world. Whitehorse's work draws upon her Navajo heritage and the philosophy of Hózhó — living a life of harmony, balance and beauty — especially between the body, mind and the natural world. The holistic nature of Hózhó can be felt in the calm, silent spaces created by Whitehorse, drawing the viewer beyond the painted surface of her work and into layers of color, depth and form. Despite the amalgam of imagery and potency of pigment used — bright blues, deep greens and fiery reds — Whitehorse's works never lose their visual synthesis, emphasizing the complex yet interconnected nature of the physical world.
Created in 1993, Untitled illustrates a blooming flower filled with white pastel sitting against a deep charcoal shadow. Multi-lined organisms dance across the page, intertwining with leaves and helicopter seeds which flow amidst an imaginary breeze. The work exemplifies the artists' signature style, with atmospheric space achieved through continuous motion and shifting perspectives. In a 1991 interview with Lawrence Abbott, Whitehorse described her process of dirtying up the paper, a crucial first step to rid the base of blank, white space. A plethora of colors are mixed, softening and preparing the surface for the delicate lines of drawings to be scattered on top, the thin lines of a triangle, or a tight spiraling seashell. In it, pastel, graphite, dry pigments and a gentle wash of acrylic paint meld together to form an otherworldly landscape, familiar in its imagery but alien in its abstraction of reality.
Two worlds are revealed in Whitehorse's work. In her own words, "I have the Navajo aspect, but I also make use of Western methods and approaches in terms of modernist techniques. There are a lot of ethnographic items that I use from my culture to make up the imagery in my work. At the same time, my imagery is very personal – extremely personal. I work very loosely and everything is intuitive. Nothing is ever preplanned; in fact, I work against that Western tendency to schematize" (the artist quoted in L. Abbot, ed., I Stand in the Center of the Good: Interviews with Contemporary Native American Artists, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1994, p. 286).
