Beatien Yazz Sold at Auction Prices

Painter, Illustrator, b. 1928 - d. 2012

Beatien Yazz (born March 5, 1928), also called Jimmy Toddy, is a Navajo American painter born near Wide Ruins, Arizona. He exhibited his work around the world and is known for his paintings of animals and people and for his children's book illustrations. Some of his works have been in the permanent collection of institutions including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Gilcrease Museum, the Logan Museum of Anthropology, the Museum of New Mexico, the Philbrook Museum of Art, and the Southwest Museum of the American Indian.

Yazz was born to Joe and Desbah Toddy on the Navajo Reservation near Wide Ruins, Arizona. He often went by his English-language name Jimmy Toddy, as well as by variations of Bea Etin Yazz ("Little No Shirt" in Navajo). As a young child, he colored with crayons and enjoyed making art. Bill and Sallie Lippencott, who ran the Wide Ruins Trading Post, recognized his talent and encouraged his art. He exhibited for the first time at age 10, with his work shown at a museum in Springfield, Illinois.

Yazz attended the Wide Ruins Day School, followed by two years at the Santa Fe Indian School. Then he studied for three years at Fort Wingate Indian School and one year at the Sherman Indian High School.

During World War II, Yazz lied about his age in order to serve in the United States Marine Corps as a Code talker, utilizing his knowledge of the Navajo language.

When he returned to the reservation after the war, he dedicated himself to art. In the late 1940s he received a scholarship to study under painter Yasuo Kuniyoshi as part of a summer program at Mills College. During this program, he was able to paint with oil paint from a live model.