Very Large Bear Storyteller Figurine with 10 Cubs [R]

Special Value Offer: The consignor has requested we offer this at a 50% price reduction from $2500 to $1250.

Louis (1932-1997) and Virginia Naranjo (b.1932) were standard bearers for the proud figurative pottery tradition of Cochiti Pueblo. They crafted their figurines at the kitchen table in their comfortable adobe home at the pueblo. They worked almost every day crafting their art with great care, joking and exchanging the gossip of the day as they went along, accompanied by television, children and grandchildren. Their art provided a good life for them and it provided a legacy that will be with us for another century or more.

Louis once explained why he began making bear storytellers. He was hunting one day and came across a female bear with two cubs. He watched the cubs playing and their antics inspired him to create the bear figurines.

After Louis passed away in 1997, Virginia continued making figurines and signing only her name.  This Very Large Bear Storyteller Figurine with 10 Cubs is one of Virginia’s creations, sometime around 2005.  It is signed with her name but not dated. 

Condition: original condition

Provenance: from the collection of a Santa Fe family in the process of moving to Florida

Recommended Reading: There is an excellent article on Louis and Virginia Naranjo in Indians of New Mexico, edited by Richard C. Sandoval and Ree Sheck. Published by New Mexico Magazine, Santa Fe, 1990. ISBN 0-937206-16-4. It may be available from the publisher.

Above Photo of Louis and Virginia Naranjo courtesy of Gregory Schaaf - Refereence: Southern Pueblo Pottery: 2,000 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf.