Hopi-Tewa Clown Pointing Finger at Something or Someone [SOLD]

The Koshari are not katsinas but appear with them during dances.  They also serve as disciplinarians and teachers of how to be a good Hopi.  It is the Koshari who will enter a Hopi home of a sick man and taunt him back to health by calling him lazy and telling him to get up and get to work because his crops need tending, his relative needs counseling, or that the spirits want him to make prayer pahos.

This clown carving by Max Taylor could easily represent the clown admonishing a Hopi to do something that needs to be done.  His hand up in the air and finger pointing have the air of a disciplinarian.  The carver has made his point well in this work. This carving was purchased by the current owners in 1989.

Condition:  original condition

Provenance: from the estate of Tom Mittler, a former resident of Michigan and Santa Fe who purchased it in 1989

Recommended Reading: Hopi Katsina: 1,600 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf