[Navajo Visitors at Oraibi]

1930. Etched, signed lower right, remarque of a cowboy on horseback in pencil, lower left. Rare sepia printed example of a superb Edward Borein print, signed and with a pencil drawn remarque.

Edward Borein (1872-1945) was born near San Francisco. He showed a very early talent for drawing which developed with very little training. He spent a number of years working as a cowboy throughout the southwest and Mexico, sketching at the same time. His career as an artist evolved beginning with magazine illustrations and going on to more ambitious oil and watercolor paintings. He spent a number of years in New York City where he met Charles Russell and Will Rogers, then returned to California, based in Santa Barbara as of 1921. By this time, he was working largely in etching, a method he perfected, always working with cowboys, Indians and the West as his subject matter. This fine sepia printed etching of the Navajo is especially desirable because of its setting in Oraibi, an ancient, continuously inhabited Hopi town in Navajo County, Arizona, in the northeastern portion of the state. The etching is unusual too for the mild psychological drama evoked: the four Navajo riders face in various directions as if they were uncomfortable or uncertain, none is actually looking at the village, and one is prepared to ride away.

Galvin 210.