The New York Times once called R.C. Gorman the "Picasso of American Indian art." His work and personality exerted an indelible presence on the Taos and Northern New Mexico arts scene that spread to every corner of the globe. Internationally, he was one of the foremost Native American artists working in recent history.
He was born Rudolph Carl Gorman on July 26, 1931, in Chinle, Ariz., the son of the late Carl Gorman -- also a famed Navajo painter and a member of the World War II Code Talkers -- and the late Adele Katherine Brown. From an early age, it was expected that, like his father, R.C. would become an artist.
Gorman carved new pathways for Indian artists, who, prior to the late 1960s, often were forced into unrealistic definitions by collectors -- and by a market that relied upon a stereotype of stoic portraits and colorful dancers rooted in the Santa Fe Indian School style.
A Diné (Navajo) who painted strong abstracts and elegant figure studies, and who defied being pigeon-holed wasn't easy to sell in a genre driven market. That might be one of the reasons Gorman decided to take a bold step and open the first Indian-owned fine-art gallery in 1968.
He said that, as a boy, he herded sheep with his aunts in Canyon de Chelly, where he used to draw on rocks and in sand and mud. His first sculpture was in clay and his first subjects were Mickey Mouse, Shirley Temple and automobiles. He was also notorious for getting in trouble, many times getting caught drawing pictures of nude girls.
After graduating from high school, he studied art at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and San Francisco State University. In 1958, he received a grant from the Navajo Tribal Council to study art at Mexico City College, where he was deeply influenced by the work of Diego Rivera. He made his name as a distinctive voice during the 1960s surge of interest in American Indian art.
Gorman was an artist of many mediums. His stylized images of Indian women and Indian motifs in acrylics, oils, stone lithography, ceramics and sculpture won him accolades. In 1973, he was honored as the only living artist to be in the "Masterworks of the American Indian" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
Gorman also published several essays on Mexican artists, petroglyphs and cave paintings. He also published a series of books on cooking and art. His friends included film stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger; his work was collected by Barry Goldwater, Gregory Peck, Erma Bombeck, Lee Marvin, Andy Warhol and others.
Gorman passed away on November 3, 2005. He was laid to rest on his property in Taos, New Mexico.
