Klah Tso paintings of Diné (Navajo) ceremonial subjects including reproductions of sandpaintings
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: NAA MS 138501

USNM Accession 138501
label: Publication Note
content: The paintings are reproduced in:

Wyman, Leland C. Sandpaintings of the Navaho Shootingway and The Walcott Collection. Contributions to Anthropology, no. 13. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970.
label: Conservation Note
content: In 1950, all paintings in this collection were sprayed with Krylon plastic as a preservative. In the late 1990s or early 2000s, he paintings underwent conservation treatment to stabilize the pigments and were rehoused in conservation mats.
label: Variant Titles
content: Sandpaintings

The Walcott Collection
name: label: Artist
content: Klah-Tso
place: label: Place
content: Arizona
label: Place
content: North America
creator: label: Artist
content: Klah-Tso
culture: label: Culture
content: Diné (Navajo)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Klah Tso paintings of Diné (Navajo) ceremonial subjects including reproductions of sandpaintings
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Klah Tso (also known as Tłʼatsoh, Big Lefthanded, Big Lefthanded Cho)  (mid-19th – early 20th century) was a Diné (Navajo) painter who lived near Indian Wells or Tuba City, Arizona.
label: Historical Note
content: Sandpaintings (also known as sand paintings, drypaintings, or iikááh) are used in Diné (Navajo) ceremonials.  They are created by a medicine man (Hataałii) by pouring colored sand, crushed dried plants, crushed stone, or other powdered pigments onto the ground. Sandpaintings are symbolic representations of different stories in Diné (Navajo) mythology and are created in conjunction with the performance of certain chants. They may depict objects like the sacred mountains where the gods live, legendary visions, or dances or chants performed in rituals.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 32 Paintings (visual works) (paint on cotton cloth)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1905-1912
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: The paintings were made by Klah Tso for Mathew M. Murphy, Navajo Agent, over a period of seven years beginning about 1905.  They were purchased by the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) from Eleanor Murphy Montague, daughter of Mathew M. Murphy, with funds provided by Mary Vaux Walcott, widow of Charles D. Walcott, in 1932. In 1936, they were transferred from the BAE to the United States National Museum (USNM) Department of Anthropology. In 1978, they were transferred the object collections of the Department of Anthropology to the National Anthropological Archives.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS138501
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Paintings (visual works)
label: Type
content: Works of art
label: Type
content: Paintings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The paintings are arranged in the order created by the donor.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Works of art
label: Genre/Form
content: Paintings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of thirty-two (32) paintings made by Klah Tso between 1905 and 1912.  Twenty-eight (28) are reproductions of sandpaintings and four (4) depict Diné (Navajo) ceremonies.  Klah Tso painted on dyed tan cotton cloth. He used a sharpened stick to apply native pigments and commercial gouache, and a brush to add commercial oils. 

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The National Anthropological Archives holds the following related collections:

MS 3924-A: Notes about the paintings taken by Matthew Stirling and Frank H.H. Roberts from a Diné (Navajo) delegation who visited Washington in 1935.

MS 3924-B and MS 4435: Research notes by Franc J. Newcomb, who was hired by the BAE to work with the Diné (Navajo) in New Mexico in 1938-1939.  She was supplied with photographs of the paintings and obtained information regarding them from her informants.