Two-vy-nah-up aka Julius Land Elk Twohy

Ute Tribe; born Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah, 1902; died 1986

BiographyTwo-vy-nah-up (aka Julius Land Elk Twohy) was born on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah. He was primarily self-taught as an artist at first working in oil and watercolor then later turning to wood carving. He lived in Seattle in the 1930s and 1940s and was mentored and championed by the artist, Mark Tobey (1890-1976). In the late 1930s he was hired by the Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration to paint a mural for the Cushman Indian Hospital on the Puyallup Reservation; he also produced a number of prints for the Washington project.

Like many of his contemporaries, Two-vy-nah-up painted a number of American Scene images, that is images of daily life, focusing on Native subjects. These images were representational but contain modernist elements such as expressive color, reduced detail, and compressed space. Two-vy-nah-up also used Native American symbols and other graphic elements in his works to create dramatic, stylized designs.

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