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Rudolph Carl Gorman (July 26, 1931 – November 3, 2005) was a Native American artist of the Navajo Nation. He was referred to as "the Picasso of American Indian artists" by The New York Times, and his paintings are primarily of Native American women and characterized by fluid forms and vibrant colors, though he also worked in sculpture, ceramics, and stone lithography. He was also an avid lover of cuisine, authoring four cookbooks, (with accompanying drawings) called Nudes and Food.

Early life and education

Rudolph Carl Gorman was born in Chinle, Arizona, to Adele Katherine Brown and Carl Nelson Gorman. His father, Carl, was one of the original twenty-nine Navajo Code Talkers, who, along with his colleagues, developed the unbreakable code American forces used in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

R. C. Gorman grew up in a traditional Navajo hogan, and began drawing at age 3. His grandmother helped raise him, recounting Navajo legends and enumerating his genealogy of artist ancestors. She kindled his desire to become an artist. While tending sheep in Canyon de Chelly with his aunts, he used to draw on the rocks, sand, and mud, and made sculptures with the clay, with his earliest subjects including Mickey Mouse and Shirley Temple.

He credited a teacher, Jenny Lind at Ganado Presbyterian Mission School, for his inspiration to become a full-time artist. After he left high school, he served in the United States Navy before entering college, where he majored in literature and minored in art at Northern Arizona University.

In 1958, he received the first scholarship from the Navajo Tribal Council to study outside of the United States, and enrolled in the art program at Mexico City College. There he learned of and was influenced by the work of Diego Rivera. He later studied art at San Francisco State University, where he also worked as a model. He was openly gay.

Career

Gorman had professional art career from 1963 (his first public exhibition by an established gallery) until his death in 2005 – 42 years. During this time, he produced over 500 lithographic and serigraphic works, at least 28 Bronze Sculptures, as well as an unknown number of papercasts, ceramic editions, tapestries, glass etchings, and one-of-a-kind oil and acrylic paintings, oil pastel drawings, and sketches.

1963 - R.C. Gorman held his first exhibition at the Zieniewics Gallery in San Francisco, CA

1964 - Gorman visits Taos and meets Henry Manchester and Dorothy Brett. A show is arranged for the next year.

1964 - R.C. and his father Carl N. Gorman are invited to do a two-person show, "New Directions in American Indian Art", at the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa, OK.

1965 - R.C. and Carl exhibit together at the Heard Museum's Gallery of Indian Art in Phoenix, Arizona. John Becklaw, writes a review in the Arizona Republic under the headline: "Gormans-Father and Son Rebels in Indian Art"

1965 - R.C. hold his first exhibition at the Manchester in Taos, New Mexico. The show sells out.

1966 - R.C. makes his first ever lithographs with Jose Sanchez in Mexico City.

1966 - R.C. helps organize American Indian Arts Group in San Francisco and serves as chairman of its painting committee.

1968 - R.C. borrows money from his parents to purchase the Manchester Gallery. He renames it the Navajo Gallery. It is the first Native American owned fine art gallery. He opens with 55 artists showing.

1971 - R.C. resumes his lithography and makes his first Lithographs with the Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He will go on to produce at least 52 lithographs between 1971 and 1975 with Tamarind.

1973 - R.C. attends the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Masterworks from the Museum of the American Indian in New York City. He is the only living artist to be included in the show and his artwork is used for the front and back cover of the show's catalog. In their review of the show, the New York Times refers to R.C. Gorman as "the Picasso of American-Indian art" (an honor as Picasso had died at 91 in France in April of that same year).

1974 - R.C. Gorman's paintings are among the arts added to the Museum of the American Indian on Broadway in New York City. In an article, the New York Times says, "no one stands higher among living American Indian painters."

Gorman moved from California to New Mexico, opening the Navajo Gallery in Taos in 1968. It was the first Native American-owned art gallery.

In 1973, he was the only living artist whose work was shown in the "Masterworks from the Museum of the American Indian" exhibition held at Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Two of his pieces were selected for the cover of the exhibit's catalog.

Gorman's work was explored in a series on American Indian artists for the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Other artists in the series included Helen Hardin, Charles Loloma, Allan Houser, Joseph Lonewolf, and Fritz Scholder.

Later life

In 1998, he donated art for Tom Udall's campaign for election to the U.S. House of Representatives. On April 1, 2003, Gorman donated his personal library to Diné College at the request of the college's president, Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet.

On September 18, 2005, Gorman fell at his home and was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in Taos. On September 26, he was transferred to University of New Mexico Hospital (in Albuquerque). He died at age 74 on November 3. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson ordered flags flown at half-staff in his honor.

Influences

Gorman learned about the work of the Mexican social realists: Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, and Rufino Tamayo. He became inspired by their colors and forms to change from abstraction to abstract realism. He used abstract forms and shapes to create his own unique, personal realistic style, recognizable to all who are acquainted with his work. While in Mexico, he also learned stone lithography from a master printer, Jose Sanchez. He used lithography throughout his life as a means of making original multiple images of his inspirations, often working by drawing directly on the stones from which the lithographs were printed.

Awards and honors

• R. C. Gorman Day, State of New Mexico (January 8, 1979)
• R. C. Gorman Day, San Francisco, California (March 18, 1986)
• New Mexico's Governor's Award of Excellence (1989)
• Alumnae of the Year Award, National Association of Colleges and Universities (November 1993)
• Camino Real Award, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Santa Fe, New Mexico (1995)
• Los Amigos del Turismo Cultural Award, Santa Fe, New Mexico (1996)
• A Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him (2002).
• After Gorman's death, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson ordered flags flown at half-staff in his honor (2005)

References

1. "Notes on People". The New York Times. 4 May 1979. p. 26. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
2. Gorman, R. C with (editor) Virginia Dooley, Nudes and Foods: Gorman Goes Gourmet. Northland Press, Flagstaff, AZ, 1981 (ISBN 0873582942)
3. Carl Gorman's world (1st ed.). University of New Mexico Press. 1984. p. 45. ISBN 0-8263-0738-8.
4. Parks, Stephen (1983). R. C. Gorman: A Portrait. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 25. ISBN 082121537X.
5. ^ Bullis, Don (2007) "Gorman, Rudolph Carl "R.C." or "Rudy" (1931–2005)" New Mexico: a biographical dictionary, 1540-1980 Rio Grande Books, Albuquerque, New Mexico, pages 103-104, ISBN 978-1-890689-60-5
6. "History", Mexico City College
7. Walters, Jordan Biro (2019-08-01). ""So Let Me Paint": Navajo Artist R.C. Gorman and the Artistic, Native, and Queer Subcultures of San Francisco, California". Pacific Historical Review. 88 (3): 439–467. doi:10.1525/phr.2019.88.3.439. ISSN 0030-8684. S2CID 198784814.
8. "LGBT History Month Icon 2021: R.C. Gorman | Hotspots! Magazine". 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
9. ^ Gorman, Michael (2022-07-10). "R.C. Gorman". MichaelGormanGallery.com. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
10. ^ Dooley, Virginia (1998). R.C. Gorman: Thirty Years In Taos. Taos, NM: Navajo Gallery. p. 33.
11. ^ Adams (1), Newlin (2), Ben (1), Richard (2) (1987). R.C. Gorman - The Graphic Works. Albuquerque, NM: Taos Editions, Ltd. pp. 232–238. ISBN 0-9619950-0-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
12. Monthan, Doris (1990). R.C. Gorman - A Retrospective. Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Publishing Co. ISBN 0-87358-505-4.
13. Greenberg, Henry & Georgia (1984). Carl Gorman's World. Univ. of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0826307385.
14. Gorman, Michael (2022-07-10). "Home". Retrieved 2022-07-10.
15. Dooley, Virginia (1998). R.C. Gorman - 30 years in Taos (1 ed.). Taos, NM: Navajo Gallery. pp. 22–23.
16. Russell, John (September 1, 1974). "The Sad Decay Of The Museum Of The American Indian". The New York Times. p. 103. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
17. Jina Brenneman, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions (May 18, 2013). "R.C. Gorman: The Early Years :: The Harwood Museum of Art :: An exhibition at the Harwood Museum of Art of work by R.C. Gorman". www.harwoodmuseum.org. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
18. "MetPublications"
19. Leuthold, Steven (1995). "13: Native American Art and Artists in Visual Arts Documentaries from 1973 to 1991". In Gross, Larry (ed.). On the Margins of Art Worlds. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. p. 268.
20. Gerdes, R. Scott (2003-06-18). "Gorman gives library to Diné College". The Taos News. Retrieved 2019-08-09 – via Newspapers.com.
21. Brief biography of R.C. Gorman
22. "The Award Winners". New Mexico Museum of Art. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
23. Palm Springs Walk of Stars: By Date Dedicated Archived 2012-12-08 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

• Greenberg, Henry (1996). Power of a Navajo. Carl Gorman The Man and His Life. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Clear Light Publishers. ISBN 9780940666825.
• Monthan, Guy; Monthan, Doris (1975). Art and Indian Individualist. A profile of 17 Southwest native American Artists. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Press. ISBN 0-87358-137-7.
• Monthan, Doris (1978). R.C. Gorman The Lithographs. A study of Lithographs 1970-1978. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Press. ISBN 0-87358-179-2.

• 1931 births
• 2005 deaths
• 20th-century American painters
• 20th-century American printmakers
• 20th-century American sculptors
• 20th-century American ceramists
• 20th-century American male artists
• 20th-century American lithographers
• 21st-century American painters
• 21st-century American ceramists
• 20th-century Native American artists
• American male painters
• American male sculptors
• Artists from Taos, New Mexico
• Native American male artists
• Navajo artists
• Northern Arizona University alumni
• People from Chinle, Arizona
• People from Taos, New Mexico
• San Francisco State University alumni
• Sculptors from Arizona
• Sculptors from New Mexico
• Mexico City College alumni
• American LGBTQ painters
• American LGBTQ sculptors
• LGBTQ Native Americans
• 21st-century American writers
• 21st-century Native American writers
• 21st-century American artists
• 21st-century Native American artists
• Native American people from Arizona
• LGBTQ people from Arizona