Paul Forster (American, 1925-2012). "Market Day" oil on board, n.d. A stunning painting of Navajo women shopping at their local market by the legendary Paul Forster. Each woman presents with an elegant coiffure, traditional clothing, jewelry, and various accoutrements. Providing additional interest is a poster for a "Navajo Rodeo" with a picture of a horse and rider on the far left adobe wall. Finely rendered with a keen eye for composition and color, Forster's painting is notable not only for his remarkable artistry but also for his ethnographic intentions. Forster was an artist-as-ethnographer who aimed to preserve indigenous culture with his art. Size: 30" L x 40" W (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm)

At the age eight, Paul Forster became the youngest member of the Albright Art Gallery Association and started studying at the Museum School with watercolorist Robert Blair. During World War II, Forster served in the Army Air Corps, and in 1952, he graduated from Brigham Young University with a Fine Arts Degree. In the late 1950s, Forster had a studio in Nevada and painted murals for the Mormon Church. In the early 1960s, he taught art and became Chairman of the Art Department of the L.D.S. Schools of the South Pacific in Tonga. In 1969, he left Brigham Young University to pursue his art full time. For the greater part of the next decade, Forster traveled throughout the American Southwest in an Airstream trailer to paint the environment and its inhabitants. In time, he moved to Oregon followed by Kansas City, but eventually returned to Arizona.

Provenance: ex-private Bishop Family Trust collection, the Trust of the late Bill Bishop, a noted antiquarian with shops in Scottsdale, Arizona and Allenspark, Colorado, USA, acquired before 2010

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#173163

Painting has some surface wear with scuffs and abrasions as shown; however, the imagery and coloration are still strong. On the verso is a collection label with the title and inventory number.