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

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

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, which has been designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

Background

Gerald Nailor was born in 1917 in Pinedale, New Mexico. 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 The Federal Government established the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) in 1890 to educate Native American children from tribes throughout the Southwestern United States. The purpose of creating SFIS was an attempt to assimilate the Native American c ...

, where he studied art under

Dorothy Dunn Dorothy Dunn Kramer (December 2, 1903 – July 5, 1992) was an American art instructor who created The Studio School at the Santa Fe Indian School. Background Dunn was born on 2 December 1903 in Pottawatomie County, Kansas and educated in Chi ...

from 1935 to 1937. After working under Dunn, Nailor spent a year studying with

Kenneth M. Chapman Kenneth M. "Chap" Chapman (1875–1968) was an art historian, arts administrator, anthropologist, writer, teacher, and researcher of Native American art and culture in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The New Mexico Archive said of Chapman: "An advocate of I ...

and the Swedish muralist

Olle Nordmark Olle Emanuel Nordmark (May 25, 1890 – December 18, 1973) was a Swedish painter and muralist born in Nordanholen at Mockfjärd parish. He was focused on an art career from an early age. After emigrating in 1924 to the United States to gain ...

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), he set up a studio in Santa Fe to paint and work on his silkscreen prints. With fellow-artist and classmate

Harrison Begay Harrison Begay, also known as Haashké yah Níyá (meaning "Warrior Who Walked Up to His Enemy" or "Wandering Boy") (November 15, 1914 or 1917 – August 18, 2012) was a renowned Diné ( Navajo) painter, printmaker, and illustrator. Begay specia ...

, 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 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 Navajo Nation Council Chamber in Window Rock, Arizona, to depict the history of the

Navajo people The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

. 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 land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 1853 ...

, Gilcrease Museum,

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, Museum of the American Indian, Philbrook Museum of Art,

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 is a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) canyon and stream. The muse ...

and the

Woolaroc Museum Woolaroc is a museum and wildlife preserve located in the Osage Hills of Northeastern Oklahoma on Oklahoma State Highway 123 about southwest of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and north of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Woolaroc was established in 1925 as the ranch ...

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 Americans 20th-century American male artists