Seated Pueblo Pottery Koshare Clown Figurine [SOLD]

Rarely are we able to find pottery sculptures by Elizabeth Abeyta, Navajo artist and daughter of acclaimed painter Narciso Abeyta, and sister of Navajo artist Tony Abeyta.   Her sculptures are rarely seen on the market since her untimely death in 2006.

This elegant piece depicts a seated Pueblo Koshare clown leaning back slightly with legs spread out, eyes closed, and arms outspread.  He holds a Mudhead Katsina doll in each hand, has one tied around his neck, wears a hieshe necklace and has leather straps on his ankles and wrists.  Around his neck is a leather strap that holds a water canteen.  On his head he wears the customary clown headdress, normally with horns of untanned sheepskin that are traditionally stuffed with heavy grass and tasseled at the tips with crinkled cornhusk strips.  His arms and legs are painted in black stripes as would be on a real Koshare. 

Tewa Pueblo Koshare are katsina-like figures, but not Katsinas, that act out ribald and gluttonous events in open plaza dances with the purpose of instructing the people on things that are not appropriate or permitted by them.  Nude performance could be an event enacted by the Koshare and that is why the artist has presented this figure with genitalia exposed.  They amuse the people and through humor emphasize how ridiculous improper behavior can be, whether on the part of the villagers, outsiders, or the priests.  No subject is spared and no person exempt from their antics.  The purpose is reinforcement of village mores and traditions hidden under the guise of amusement.

Elizabeth Abeyta, a Navajo, was a sculpture artist whose work won top awards at the Navajo Craftsman exhibition at the Museum of Northern Arizona, first-place awards for sculpture at the Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial, and at Indian Market in Santa Fe.  She is featured in Jerry and Lois Jacka's award-winning Beyond Tradition and her art has been collected by private and museum clients. She attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, the Navajo Community College in Tsalee, Arizona, and received a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute, where she studied under Richard Shaw.

Condition: original condition. Inscribed on rear Hah-Glee-eh-bah 1992.

Recommended Reading:  Beyond Tradition by Jerry and Lois Jacka.  This out-of-print book is currently not available from Adobe Gallery.