Gerald Nailor Sr. (or Toh Yah (); January 21, 1917 – August 13, 1952) was a

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

Studio painter from Picurís, New Mexico. Beginning in 1942, he was commissioned to paint the history of the Navajo people for a large mural at the

Navajo Nation Council Chamber Navajo Nation Council Chamber () is the center of government for the Navajo Nation. The landmark building, in Window Rock, Arizona, is significant for its association with the 1930s New Deal, and its change in federal policy for relations with N ...

, which has been designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

Background

Gerald Nailor was born in 1917 in

Pinedale, New Mexico Pinedale (also spelled Pine Dale) () is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 485. Geography Pinedale is in west-central McKi ...

. His

name is Toh Yah (Walking By the River). He attended the Albuquerque Indian School from 1930 to 1934. He then attended the Santa Fe Indian School, where he studied art under Dorothy Dunn from 1935 to 1937. After working under Dunn, Nailor spent a year studying with Kenneth M. Chapman and the Swedish muralist Olle Nordmark.

Marriage and family

Nailor met his future wife, Santana Simbola, who was working as a nurse at the Santa Fe Indian Hospital. Upon marrying, they relocated to Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico, where they reared their five children. Their son Gerald Nailor Jr. also became an artist.

Career

In 1937, with his good friend the artist Allan Houser (

Chiricahua Apache Chiricahua ( ) is a band of Apache Native Americans. Based in the Southern Plains and Southwestern United States, the Chiricahua historically shared a common area, language, customs, and intertwined family relations with their fellow Apaches. ...

), he set up a studio in Santa Fe to paint and work on his silkscreen prints. With fellow-artist and classmate Harrison Begay, Nailor founded "Tewa Enterprises", an art publishing firm specializing in Native American art, especially that of the two founders. Tewa Enterprises became known for the high quality of their silkscreen prints."Gerald Nailor"
Art of the Print In 1939, Nailor, Houser and Velino Shije Herrera were commissioned by the

Section of Painting and Sculpture Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section s ...

to paint murals in the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C. In 1942, Nailor was selected for the commission for a mural for the

in Window Rock, Arizona, to depict the history of the

Navajo people The Navajo or Diné are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Navajo language, Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Din ...

. He was one of thousands who applied for the job, which officials expected to take 3–5 years. In 2004, the building (and its mural) was declared a

. Works by Nailor are held by the Arizona State Museum,

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, that is among the largest List of natural history museums, museums of natural history in the world, housing over ...

Gilcrease Museum Gilcrease Museum, also known as the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, is a museum northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma housing the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West, as well as a gr ...

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

, Fred Jones Museum of Art, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture,

Museum of Northern Arizona The Museum of Northern Arizona is a museum in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States, established as a repository for Indigenous material and natural history specimens from the Colorado Plateau. The museum was founded in 1928 by zoologist Dr. Harol ...

Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian–New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, is a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in Manhattan, New York City. The museum is part of the Sm ...

Philbrook Museum of Art Philbrook Museum of Art is an art museum with expansive formal gardens located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum, which opened in 1939, is located in a former 1920s villa, "Villa Philbrook", the home of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his ...

Millicent Rogers Museum The Millicent Rogers Museum is an art museum in Taos, New Mexico, founded in 1956 by the family of Millicent Rogers. Initially the artworks were from the multi-cultural collections of Millicent Rogers and her mother, Mary B. Rogers, who donated ...

Southwest Museum The Southwest Museum of the American Indian was a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco canyon and stream. The museum ...

and the Woolaroc Museum.

Notes

References

* Lester, Patrick D. ''The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters''. Norman and London: The Oklahoma University Press, 1995. . * "Brief Biography.
Gerald Nailor.Com
Ed. Dane Vierow. 29 May 2007. * "Gerald Nailor Interview." Personal interview. 26 Apr. 2009. Interview about Gerald Nailor Sr.

External links

Photograph of Gerald Nailor Sr. painting ''History and Progress of the Navajo Nation'', installed at Navajo Nation Council Chamber
Digital Vaults

Official Website with artwork {{DEFAULTSORT:Nailor, Gerald Sr. Painters from New Mexico Navajo painters 1917 births 1952 deaths People from Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico People from McKinley County, New Mexico 20th-century American painters American male painters Native American printmakers American muralists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists 20th-century American printmakers Native American male artists 20th-century Native American artists 20th-century American male artists Navajo printmakers