San Ildefonso Mixed Dance Leader Painting [SOLD]

This painting by Waldo Mootzka is of the katsina who leads the Mixed Dance group. The Mixed Dance is one in which a large variety of different katsinas participate.  The actual name of the katsina presented is not known at this time.

Dances are a social as well as a religious occasion in the pueblo.  Dances conclude all important religious ceremonials. Since outsiders do not participate in the kiva ceremonials, which may have been going on for 8 days or more, the ceremonial dances are our witness to the end of the ceremony.

These dances are invocations or requests to the gods and to nature to bless the pueblo, its people, and the growth of corn, squash and melons and for the abundance of animals to hunt for food. All residents, except children and the infirm, may be asked to participate in a dance.  Such a request is never denied without good reason.

The dancer portrayed by Mootzka is very colorfully presented, with the strong red body paint and the yellow arms and legs and green ruff around the dancer’s neck.  Mootzka’s intent, most likely, was to make a colorful and attractive painting more so than an accurate presentation of the dancer. The costuming is mostly correct. The mouth may be incorrect for this particular katsina.

Condition: this San Ildefonso Mixed Dance Leader Painting is in very good condition, with three thumbtack holes (top & bottom center)

Provenance: from a gentleman resident of Santa Fe

Recommended Reading: Hopi Painting: The World of the Hopis by Patricia Janis Broder

Relative Links: Native American Paintings, Waldo Mootzka, Katsina, Hopi Pueblo, San Ildefonso Pueblo