American Indian Art Highlights Fall 2012

Dough Bowl

Kiua - Cochiti

Diam. 18 1/2"

"These two pueblos are the most northeastern of the Keresan language villages. They lie just to the south of Tewa villages and accordingly have felt strong ceramic influences from those neighbors. After the Indian revolt of 1680 this influence became especially strong. Both Santo Domingo and Cochiti discontinued their manufacture of glazeware. For awhile they imported pottery from their Puname (early Zia) and Tewa area, and then gradually these pueblos began to make their own copes of the Tewa styles, using carbon paint for the Tewa-like decorations. The classic type of Tewa-like pottery at Santo Domingo and Cochiti bars the Kiua Polychrome. Kiua is the Indian name for Santo Domingo, and the type was made there principally in the period from 1760 to the present. At Cochiti also the type began about 1760 but by 1830 showed signs of evolving into a different one. By 1850 the style was so distinct that we give it the name Cochiti Polychrome (see below).

Cochiti Pueblo
The pottery type known as Cochiti Polychrome developed out of nearly one hundred years of the Kiua Polychrome tradition. By 1850 certain definitive Cochiti characteristics were discernible, principally in design. Cochiti motifs are isolated decorations, often with little relation to one another. The lines are finer than on Kiua Polychrome, giving the motifs a lighter, fussier appearance. A typical Cochiti feature is the habit of embellishing the encircling framing lines with pendant figures, usually simple arcs or triangles, but sometimes enigmatic, complicated adaptations of older feather motifs.

Santo Domingo Pueblo
When some of the potters of Santo Domingo finally began to break from the traditional styles of Kiua Polychrome, the departure was much less extreme than at Cochiti, as the pot on the left shows. The resulting vessels, known as Santo Domingo Polychrome, are distinguished from Kiua Polychrome as follows: *The jars are relatively tall, *decoration on the jars is usually not broken up into panels or bands, *red is frequently used in the motifs, *decoration is often naturalistic, with birds and foliage usually predominant, *bowls are rare, few being made. The center picture and the one on the right are more recent pieces." Larry Frank

 

 

Piptu-Wu-uti kachina doll

Ht. 9 1/4"

c. 1940 - 1960

Hopi, Hopi Pueblo,

Otis Dozier Collection, Dallas

Piptu-Wu-uti is the female companion of Piptuka, a clown.

 



^{"Pueblo Clowns (sometimes called sacred clowns) is a generic term for jester or trickster in the Kachina religion practiced by the Pueblo Indians of the southwestern USA. There are a number of figures in the ritual practice of the Pueblo people. Each has a unique role and belongs to separate Kivas (secret societies or confraternities), and each has a name that differs from one mesa or pueblo to another. They perform during the spring and summer fertility rites. Among the Hopi there are five figures who serve as clowns: the Payakyamu, the Koshare (or Koyaala or Hano Clown), the Tsuku, the Tatsiqto (or Koyemshi or Mudhead) and the Kwikwilyak. With the exception of the Koshare, each is a kachinam or personification of a spirit. It is believed that when a member of a kiva dons the mask of a kachinam, he abandons his personality and becomes possessed by the spirit. Each figure performs a set role within the religious ceremonies; often their behavior is comic, lewd, scatological, eccentric and alarming. Among the Zuni, to enter the Ne'wekwe order, one is initiated "by a ritual of filth-eating"; "mud and excrement are smeared on the body for the clown performance, and parts of the performance may consist of sporting with excreta, smearing and daubing it, or drinking urine and pouring it on one another". Wikepedia}

 

 

 

Mickey Mouse kachina doll 

Ht. 8"

c. 1960

Hopi, Hopi Pueblo,

Otis Dozier Collection, Dallas

When Disney memorabilia became collectible, objects like this Mickey doll became sought after by collectors. As a consequence these dolls have become quite rare on the market.

 

 

Owl kachina

Ht.

c. 1950

Hopi, Hopi Pueblo

Otis Dozier Collection, Dallas

Acquired from Mrs. Fred Kabotie 1952

"Otto Pentewa is a name any collector of Hopi Katsina dolls recognizes.  They may never have seen him or seen his signature on a Katsina doll, but they recognize his work at a glance.  He was born at the village of Oraibi on the Hopi Reservation at the end of the 19th century.  He was of the Katsina Clan and his Hopi name was Sikovaya, which translates to Pumpkin Flower. One of the distinguishing designs on his Katsina carvings is the pumpkin flower he generally painted on the loin cloth of the doll.  It was his signature. Shortly after the turn of the century, he married and moved to the village of Kykotsmovi where he and his wife raised eleven children.  His son, Richard Pentewa, continued in the tradition of carving Katsina dolls. " Adobe Gallery

 

 

Serpent Bowl

Diameter 9 1/2"

AD 1150 - 1450

Ramos Polychrome

Casas Grandes, New Mexico

"Ramos Polychrome represents the pinnacle of achievement in Casas Grandes ceramics. Although the focus was around Paquimé, the type was more widespread than any other, covering the entire range of the Casas Grandes culture. Vessels have well painted, carefully executed designs, balancing red and black solid and linear elements.

Characteristics
Paste: White to brown
Temper: Fine sand
Surface: Highly smoothed
Forms: Bowls, jars, effigies, vases and eccentrics
Design: Wide band extending from rim to well below shoulder, framed by matched red and black lines, interlocking elements in red and black, divided into panels by diagonal parallel lines." Logan Museum, Beloit College

http://shango.arttrak.com/shango/gallery.cgi?cat=AI