Maynard Dixon (1875 – 1946) visited Canyon de Chelly in 1923 and was similarly impressed as Edward S. Curtis (1868 - 1952) must’ve been when he took his famous photo of Navajo Riders in Canyon de Chelly (1904). Inspired by deep sandstone hues of the Canyon walls, Dixon painted "Ledge of Sunland” (1922, Oil on Canvas, 25" x 30") and Canyon del Muerto - Coronado Rock (c. 1923 oil on canvas 25" x 30") both which are evocative of Curtis’ famous photo.
Sometime I know I must return to the south,
return to the Sun-Land.
Now as my feet pass over the uneven days
and my weight grows weary upon them
I feel the inescapable pull of the earth; –
the deep old Earth pulling me back to her.
But now as the changeable colors of days
wheel with increasing velocity past my sight
these eyes of mine grow steadier,
my heart grows stronger,
and from the deep old Earth I know knowledge of things,
wonderful things I could never have known before;
and yet – where is the vast arc and the rainbow edge of the dream –
that marvelous Dream –
I could never have dreamt, except –
except in the Sun-Land."
– Rim-Rock and Sage: The Collected Poems of Maynard Dixon,
pub. San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1977
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appaloosa said:
return to the Sun-Land.
Now as my feet pass over the uneven days
and my weight grows weary upon them
I feel the inescapable pull of the earth; –
the deep old Earth pulling me back to her.
But now as the changeable colors of days
wheel with increasing velocity past my sight
these eyes of mine grow steadier,
my heart grows stronger,
and from the deep old Earth I know knowledge of things,
wonderful things I could never have known before;
and yet – where is the vast arc and the rainbow edge of the dream –
that marvelous Dream –
I could never have dreamt, except –
except in the Sun-Land."
– Rim-Rock and Sage: The Collected Poems of Maynard Dixon,
pub. San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1977
See: www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/1978/april/br-sage