Original Painting “Yacca (sic) Skirt Dancer” Katsina [SOLD]

In his book Kachinas: A Hopi Artist’s Documentary, Barton Wright states:  “Many times new kachinas are brought out to join their peers. Usually this occurs when someone dreams of a kachina, and it appears in a different form. The Hopi men will then compose songs, clarify its appearance and present it at a dance. The Yucca Skirt Kachina is an example of this process even though he is not completely new as he was preceded by the Yucca Skirt Hu (Movitkuntaka) Kachina. Movitkuntaka is noted for another thing in Hopi minds: that is whenever he has been performed, unseasonably cold weather has followed immediately with disastrous results for the crops. As a result, Movitkuntaka does not appear anymore.”  

A student of Indian schools at Hopi Pueblo as well as in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, Kyrate Tuvahoema (1914-1942), was known for his depictions of Katsinas that were “tall and lean, but with good detail and color in costume, mask, and paraphernalia.” (Southwest Indian Painting: A Changing Art by Clara Lee Tanner). Modeling, or the use of shading to give depth, was not Tuvahoema’s strong suit, but his drafting was thought to be very precise.

Painted in the style described above by Tanner, Tuvahoema used vivid colors to  paint a “tall and lean, but with good detail” likeness of the Movitkuntaka Katsina or Yucca Skirt Katsina. The evergreen ruff around the neck was rendered in shades of green. He carefully painted the case mask in shades of red, blue, orange and yellow. A silver and turquoise belt rests over the yucca skirt. The painting is labeled, “Yacca Skirt Dancer” and was signed  K. Tuvahoema, Hopi.

Tuvahoema’s paintings were few: he contracted tuberculosis shortly after leaving school and spent much of his remaining life in sanatoriums in Arizona. He passed away in 1942 at the young age of 28. Most of his paintings were created in the late 1930s.  He could not have produced many paintings in those few years.

He had been born in the village of Oraibi on the Hopi Reservation.

A few museums have his paintings: the Museum of Northern Arizona, Museum of the American Indian, Gilcrease Museum and the Eiteljorg Museum.  

Condition: The Original Painting "Yacca (sic) Skirt Dancer" Katsina has slight smudges around the figure, but the figure itself is undamaged.

Provenance: From a collection in Santa Fe

Recommended Reading:

- Southwest Indian Painting: A Changing Art by Clara Lee Tanner

- Kachinas: A Hopi Artist’s Documentary by Barton Wright