49

According to the artist’s New York Times obituary, “In 1985, two of his pieces - ‘The Navajo Madonna’ and ‘Navajo Man’ - were sold for $1 million. ‘The Navajo Madonna,’ which depicts an Indian woman on horseback holding her baby, had sold three years earlier for $450,000, then a record price for Western art. Mr. Wieghorst’s work has been in the collections of three Presidents -Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald R. Ford and Ronald Reagan - and many other prominent Americans, including John Wayne. President Eisenhower displayed a Wieghorst painting on a wall of the Oval Office.”


Navajo Madonna (1964)

VERSO
Exhibition label, Phippen Museum
Exhibition label, Gilcrease Museum

The artist wrote, “The sketches for the Navajo Madonna were done many years ago up on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. I used to watch the Navajos come into the trading post for supplies and material and that’s where I got the idea. In the painting I used back lighting which I thought was very effective.”

Navajo Madonna was released as a limited edition print by Frame House Galleries in 1972.

EXHIBITED
Olaf Wieghorst Retrospective, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ, Oct 10 - Nov 29, 1981
Wieghorst Dean of Western Painters, Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK, Nov 20, 1982 - Jan 30, 1983
The Dean of Western Artists, Phippen Museum, Prescott, AZ, Apr 27 - Aug 5, 1996

LITERATURE
Olaf Wieghorst Retrospective (Tucson, AZ: Tucson Museum of Art, 1981), page 56, illustrated halftone
Wieghorst Dean of Western Painters (Tulsa, OK: Thomas Gilcrease Museum Association, 1982), pages 44-45, illustrated
James E. Drye, A Collector’s Guide to the Prints of Olaf Wieghorst (Mesa, AZ: Spidy Quality Publishing, 2000), page 89, illustrated print


The Navajo (1982)

VERSO
Exhibition label, Phippen Museum

The Navajo was released as a limited edition print by The Wooden Bird in 1983.

EXHIBITED
The Dean of Western Artists, Phippen Museum, Prescott, AZ, Apr 27 - Aug 5, 1996

LITERATURE
James E. Drye, A Collector’s Guide to the Prints of Olaf Wieghorst (Mesa, AZ: Spidy Quality Publishing, 2000), page 93, illustrated print

Condition ReportNavajo Madonna
Surface condition is excellent. No signs of inpainting nor restoration.

The Navajo
Surface condition is excellent. No signs of inpainting nor restoration.

Important Notice: Statements of condition are provided as a service to potential bidders; such statements are educated opinions and should not be regarded as facts. The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction has no responsibility for any errors or omissions.