R.C. Gorman
R.C. Gorman (1931–2005) was a Navajo painter and printmaker often called the 'Picasso of American Indian Art,' celebrated for his monumental, sculptural depictions of Navajo women rendered in warm earth tones. His lithographs are among the most widely collected works of American Indian art. Austin Auction Gallery sells and appraises R.C. Gorman artwork.
About the Artist
Rudolph Carl Gorman was born in 1931 on the Navajo Nation reservation near Chinle, Arizona, the son of celebrated Navajo painter Carl Gorman. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he studied art briefly at Northern Arizona University before becoming, in 1958, the first Navajo person to receive a scholarship from the Navajo Tribal Council to study art abroad, spending time in Mexico City where he was influenced by the Mexican muralists — particularly the monumental, sculptural treatment of the human figure found in the work of Diego Rivera.
Gorman settled in Taos, New Mexico in the 1960s and became the central figure of the Taos art scene, opening his own gallery — the first Native American-owned gallery in Taos — in 1968. His signature subject, repeated across thousands of works over his career, is the Navajo woman: monumental, simplified, sculptural figures often wrapped in traditional blankets, rendered in warm terracotta, ochre, and earth-tone palettes that echo the landscape of the American Southwest. His confident, rounded line and emphasis on volume earned him the nickname 'the Picasso of American Indian art' during his lifetime.
Enormously prolific and commercially successful, Gorman produced extensively in lithography alongside his paintings, and his prints brought his instantly recognizable style to a broad national collector base well beyond the Southwest. He died in 2005 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and his work remains a cornerstone of American Indian art collections, with his Taos gallery estate continuing to represent his legacy.
Signed lithographs typically $300-$800 depending on subject and edition; collaborative and rarer prints somewhat higher; 'after' or unsigned offset reproductions bring considerably less ($75-$200).