Original Painting of a Koshare Harassing an Ogre [SOLD]

Raymond Naha captured the moment when a Koshare, with a flaming fire stick, is harassing an Ogre Katsina.  Chaveyo is an Ogre Katsina represented in all Hopi villages but it is believed he migrated from the Ohkay Owingeh area of New Mexico.  He is somewhat a disciplinarian to the Hopi in that if a Hopi fails to meet his obligations in community work or transgresses the rules of conduct of Hopi life, then Chaveyo will show him the error of his ways.

During the Powamu or Palölökongti, the Koshare often harass the Ogres but, in a turn-around, the clowns get whacked for their efforts.  Naha has captured the beginning of the action by the clowns and one can only visualize what the Ogre will do to the clown in the next scene of the action.

Naha painted this on black paper to emphasize the night scene.  He used pale blues and grays and brown skin tones to set the principals from the background color of black.  There is no background village scene or plaza scene—leading further to the night isolation of the two main characters.

Although Naha was not able to support his wife and four children from the proceeds of his art alone, he nevertheless took patience in finishing each painting and not hurrying along to complete one just for a sale.  All of his paintings were executed in the finest detail and with much care.  That is quite obvious in this painting.

Condition:  original condition

Provenance: from the collection of Katie Noe (1905-1998) of Gallup, NM.  Noe worked for the finest Indian dealers in Gallup for 20 years—C. N. Cotton, Gross-Kelly, Charles Ilfeld, Gallup Mercantile, and C. G. Wallace—before opening her own Indian shop “the Zuni Shop” which she operated until her health failed.

Recommended Reading: Southwest Indian Painting: A Changing Art by Clara Lee Tanner