Midday St I

Midday St I is a contemplative 1980s oil pastel by R.C. Gorman featuring a Navajo woman in a serene seated pose gazing upward with eyes closed. She is draped in a luminous turquoise or aquamarine textile that glows against the soft, atmospheric background rendered in pale pink and mauve hues suggestive of high desert light at midday. The figure’s stately yet vulnerable posture evokes spiritual transcendence and inner peace. Gorman’s masterful pastels work creates an ethereal quality through delicate blending and nuanced color transitions, while the composition maintains classical balance and grace. This is State I of a series, showing the artist’s exploration of color variations within a consistent compositional and thematic framework. Essential for serious collectors of Gorman’s printmaking and pastels work, particularly those interested in variants and state studies of significant compositions.