KENNETH BEGAY Navajo Sterling Silver & Iron Wood MODERNIST Salad Serving Set

Kenneth Begay (Navajo 1913-1977)

Sterling and iron wood salad serving set. Modernist design with sterling bowls and inset with dramatic sterling rays on handle. Signed on reverse. Each measures approximately 12.75". C 1950-1960. Excellent condition, needs a good polishing.

Kenneth Begay’s (1913-1977) silver work is immediately recognizable and always distinctively his own; streamlined, elegant and modernist with a unique originality of inspired design and unparalleled quality of technique and craftsmanship. Begay is known today as being “The Father of Modern Navajo Silver” for his cutting edge streamlined Modernist designs, which modern though they were, were always deeply rooted in traditional Navajo silversmithing technique. Begay inspired several generations of Navajo and Pueblo silversmiths through his pioneering work at Scottsdale Arizona’s famed White Hogan shop and working on his own in later years. One of the young silversmiths who found great inspiration in Kenneth Begay’s unique work was Hopi artist Charles Loloma.