Original Watercolor Painting of Abstract Hopi Design [SOLD]

Oswald Fredericks was an artist and Hopi cultural scholar who contributed immeasurably to his people’s rich history through his artwork and his efforts as an oral historian.  His efforts as a translator and oral historian resulted in a significant contribution to Frank Waters’ famous and influential “Book of the Hopi,” which explored Hopi culture and cosmology from the point of view of the Hopi people themselves.

In a subsequent publication, Waters explained Fredericks’ role in the book’s creation: “White Bear collected most of our research material. He would take down on a little battery-run tape recorder the discourses of our Hopi spokesman. Later he would play them back translating them in English to his wife who would type them for my use. He also served as my interpreter when I interviewed Hopis, guided me to all the mentioned sites of ancient ruins and hidden shrines, and made drawings of pictographs and petroglyphs carved on rocks.”

Long before he was involved in Waters’ project, Fredericks was creating his own legacy as a painter and Kachina carver.  Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater commissioned a large number of carvings from Fredericks during the 1950s and 1960s.  Most of these carvings are still in Goldwater’s massive collection, which now resides at the Heard Museum in Phoenix.  His paintings are in the permanent collections of museums around the Southwest.

This untitled abstract watercolor painting is a fine example of why his works have found their way to so many prominent collections.  It is an expertly crafted image that contains a variety of patterns within a spiral-shaped form.  At its center, the spiral is filled in with opaque black paint.  At its end it is filled in with dots of various sizes and colors.  In between, the viewer is treated to a handful of different patterns and colors that are in no way similar but manage to complement each other perfectly.

There is much here for the viewer who chooses to believe that Fredericks intent was to depict some sort of animal.  Extending up and out from the top of the spiral are two designs that resemble antennae or wings.  Extending out from the spiral’s widest point is a form that looks quite similar to the bear paw that he used as his signature.  Forms that resemble an insect and an eye are present, for those who wish to see them.  This may have been deliberate, or it may have been entirely unintentional.  Either way, it is a fantastic and beautiful creation from a very significant figure in Hopi history.

Condition: this Original Watercolor Painting of Abstract Hopi Design is in is in excellent condition

Provenance: From the collection of a New Mexico resident

Reference: Waters, Frank. Book of the Hopi: The First Revelation of the Hopi's Historical and Religious World-view of Life, with drawings and source material recorded by Oswald White Bear Fredericks. 1970