Rudolph Carl Gorman (July 26, 1931 – November 3, 2005) was a Native American artist of the Diné (Navajo) Nation. Referred to as "the Picasso of American Indian artists" by The New York Times, 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.
R.C. Gorman was born in Chinle, Arizona. His father Carl Gorman was also an artist and as well as a Navajo code talker in World War II. After serving in the U.S. Navy and studying art and literature at Northern Arizona University, R.C. received a Navajo Tribal Council scholarship to study art at Mexico City College in 1958. It was there that Gorman was introduced to the works of Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, which would later influence own artwork. Later Gorman moved to Taos, New Mexico and opened the first Native-owned fine art gallery in 1968.
Gorman's work is held in the collections of many national museums including the National Museum of the American Indian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Ariz. Gorman died in 2005 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Andy Warhol took a polaroid picture of Gorman and made a silkscreen print of his portrait.
