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Ethnological Katsina Collection

NIMAN KATSINA DOLL by Otto Pentewa (d. 1963), New Oraibi, Third Mesa, Arizona.

Dates: 1950-1960
Materials: Cottonwood root, feathers.
Catalog No.: E-4112

Bold poster paints and action stances characterized many Hopi Katsina dolls carved in the mid-century. Otto Pentewa was a prolific and skilled carver of this period. He employed both mineral and commercial paints, which give his dolls a relatively muted appearance. He was also known to choose bent pieces of cottonwood root for Katsina dolls which then, according to author Barton Wright "appeared to bend and dance to some unheard chant."