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Harrison Begay

1914 or 1917 White Cone, Arizona - 2012 Gilbert, Arizona

BiographyHarrison Begay or Haskay Yahne Yah (Warrior Who Walked Up to His Enemy) was born in White Cone, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation around 1917 to Black Rock and Zonnie Tachinie Begay. At the age of seven, he attended a government boarding school at Fort Wingate, where he was first exposed to the English language. After a year he ran away, returning home to study art independently and herd sheep. At the age of seventeen, he attended Santa Fe Indian School, studying under Dorothy Dunn. Graduating in 1939, Harrison continued his education at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, studying architecture. Furthermore, he created murals for the WPA during the depression prior to spending three years in the army during WWII. Following his time in the Army, Harrison studied in Colorado under Gerald Curtis Delano. Notably, Harrison received a purchase award at the first Indian Annual Painting Competition at the Philbrook Museum of Art. He later created Tewa Enterprises in the 1950s in Santa Fe to make and sell reproductions of his and others' artwork. He was awarded the Palmes de Academiques by the French government in 1954 for his contributions to the arts. Works from his career are in permanent collections at the Smithsonian Institute, Gilcrease Museum, Philbrook Museum, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, and many others.

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