FEATURED:   A set of stunning and vibrant sketches of Omaha Tribesmen in ceremonial attire, on the Macy, Nebraska Omaha Reservation, by Fred J. Yost, done in 1955 as part of his series on Native American cultures & ceremonies,  with five groups quickly sketched in blue ink on artist paper and one created on paper using pastels.  We love the details and energy Yost gave to each sketch, moving quickly and simply across the paper with a ballpoint pen, offering us these iconic portraits of people during their traditional ceremonies. Yost spent a lot of time traveling throughout N. America as an artist and art teacher, fascinated with Native American culture, individuals and rituals, and who was invited into closed and private ceremonies, events and pueblos that were off-limits & not accessible to the outside world, allowed to capture, in places such as the Omaha Macy Reservation, situations and people that were not usually recorded at all.  This painting is one of the series (# 6) featured in his one-man show, 'Pow Wow' at the Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio in 1960; we have a copy of the show brochure to verify this.  This great sketches offer us wonderful insights into Native American lifestyles, cultures and the people, mesmerizing and captivating anyone who views this terrific original artwork. 

 

FRED J. YOST, born in Switzerland but grew up in Canton, Ohio, studied at the famed Arts Student League, NYC, worked for the Wallstreet Journal, was a staff artist for the NY Herald, Sun and Post, was the artist in residence at the Butler Art Institute, the Canton Art Museum, Akron Art Museum, and Mt. Union College over decades, and in 1954 was the guest instructor at the Sioux City, S. Dakota Art Center, where he created two huge murals for the city hall and the arts center.  His work is in the Sioux City Art Center & Museum, the Butler Art Institute, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Rockefeller Center, NYC, PA. Academy of Fine Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and was past President of the Ohio Watercolor Society.  He traveled extensively out West and into Mexico for decades, painting/sketching what he saw and loved, and did this series when he was in his sixties & seventies.  An amazing artist with an unusual ability to capture the world around him so vividly and perfectly, such as these wonderful simple and iconic views of private lives not often shared.

MEASURES:  28 inches X 44 inches (the main board), signed and dated LR by artist, with "Sketches from Omaha Resv."  There is also a name on one of the five sketches but we do not know who this is.  Art is done with blue ballpoint pen, in quick sketches on paper,  and also a larger pastel sketch on paper included;  the group was mounted onto a backboard by artist for paper stability, as the paper he used was thin and needed support.  This artwork has both some age and storage-related issues with glue folds, minor creasing, tears, etc. and surface wear, but is still striking and terrific as it is today.  This could be reversed by an art conservator, we were told,  or left as found as it was all part of the artist's creation during one period.  This is #6, one of 30 works of art in Yost's one man show, "Pow Wow" at the Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio, in Jan, 1960.  A copy of the show brochure will be included with this purchase.   It is in good condition for its age, and a stunning work of art which gives us an insight into a world not often seen by the public, Omaha tribal members at a ceremony, in traditional ceremonial attire.  A wonderful insight into a world not often viewed by the outside, captured perfectly by someone who respected their world and was able to show us honestly what that looked like in the 1950's.

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