Very Large Cochiti Male Figurine [SOLD]

Special Value Offer: The owners of this figurine have authorized a 20% price reduction from the original price of $8500 to a new price of $6800.

Virgil Ortiz (born 1969) is probably one of the most versatile of all pueblo potters. He makes traditional figurative pottery, experimental figurative pottery, traditional pottery vessels, and, now, designer clothing and household furniture and decorative objects.

This figurine, signed and dated 1996, is typical of creations of that period from his fertile mind. There is no other pueblo artist of today who is as creative in figurative pottery as is he.  His figurines are based on legends, myths and ideas from his own mind.  Never are they unimaginable.

Virgil has an artistic eye unlike any other pueblo artist with whom I am familiar. He must thoroughly enjoy fashioning figurines and deciding how to dress them and how to design the decorations. He must achieve a feeling of pleasure on completing one. If he enjoys his creations as much as collectors do, then he must be very pleased when completing one.

Virgil's mother, Seferina Ortiz, encouraged her son to make traditional Cochiti Pueblo pottery, but he chose to go more modern. He has produced figurines ranging from scantily-clad females, males with nipple rings, two-headed people, females dressed in long leather dresses, etc. At the same time, he has formed traditional shaped jars, but his decorations have deviated from the traditional.

Condition: original condition

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Indiana

Recommended Reading: Clay People: Pueblo Indian Figurative Traditions by Jonathan Batkin