Desert Hawk Books

 

Hopi Kachinas:
The Complete Guide to Collecting Kachina Dolls

by Barton Wright

 

 

Paperback

6 7/8" x 9 1/2"
152 Pages
30 color photos
showing 150 kachinas
index

 

Barton Wright, one of the foremost authorities on Hopi culture, here introduces 150 of the most significant Kachina figures. Lavishly illustrated, Hopi Kachinas: The Complete Guide to Collecting Kachina Dolls is both a useful and beautiful book of reference for collectors and admirers of Kachina dolls and anyone interested in Pueblo Indian customs.

The Hopi live on three neighboring mesas in the northeastern Arizona desert and are the westernmost of the Pueblo Indian people. The Hopi are bound together by their complex religion, which includes as an important element the Kachina cult. Kachinas in Hopi religion represent the spirit essence of everything in the real world. A variety of Kachina dances take place in Hopi villages from late December through July, with Kachina dancers serving to act as intermediaries between the spirit and visible objective worlds. During these dances, infants and children are presented with Tihu, or Kachina dolls, images of the Kachinas in the dance. The doll is not a plaything, but an effigy, or small part of the Kachina it represents. Carved out of cottonwood root and beautifully and elaborately clothed in materials which may include handwoven sashes, furs and feathers, Hopi Kachina dolls have become some of the most coveted collector's items produced by any Native American group.

Classified into its representational category, each Kachina figure is here accompanied by a description, buying tips, and history of its cultural role. Barton Wright also discusses past and present trends in the manufacturing and collecting of the dolls.

Barton Wright lives in Phoenix, AZ.