Best Friends

Best Friends, a 1966 R.C. Gorman oil pastel, captures two close Navajo women standing together beneath a blazing sunset horizon that bands across the top of the composition in coral, crimson, teal, and warm olive. Wrapped in fiery orange and deep rose rebozos, the pair leans slightly toward one another, their faces small ovals of blue shadow above richly painted shawls. Gorman’s loose, painterly strokes pour down into streaky pink and violet passages at their feet, dissolving the figures into the earth and giving the piece an expressionist energy. This signed 1960s original is a rare window into the artist’s early career and a standout find for collectors of vintage Gorman work, Navajo friendship imagery, and gestural Southwest fine art.