Apie Begay

Apie Begay was a Navajo painter and artist in the early 20th century who resided and created art near the Pueblo Bonito trading post in the western part of present-day New Mexico.

Chapman was intrigued and sought out this artist, eventually finding Begay in his hogan using red and black pigments to recreate spiritual Navajo sandpainting.

Chapman gave him a box of crayons to expand his color palette, and Begay quickly incorporated this broader range into his work.

I gave the artist, Apie Begay, some good paper, and lent him my box of ten colored pencils, the first he had ever seen.

Apie made three drawings for me that have been described and exhibited several times as the earliest known examples of Navajo art produced with white man's materials.