Classic Hopi and Zuni Kachina Figuresby Barton Wright
2006 Museum of New Mexico Press (Santa Fe, New Mexico), 10 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches tall black cloth hardcover in publisher's unclipped dust jacket, blind emboss lettering to front cover, gilt emboss lettering to spine, burgundy endpapers, copiously illustrated with black-and-white and color photographs and artwork, xiv, 173 pp. A near fine copy - clean, bright and unmarked - in a like dust jacket which is nicely preserved and displayed in a clear archival Brodart sleeve.
Photographer Andrea Portago saw her first kachina in the early seventies in the studio of George Terasaki, from whom her friend and collaborator Andy Warhol was buying Native American art. When Alan Kessler's collection of kachinas was auctioned at Sotheby's in 1997, an extraordinary collection of classic kachina figures was unveiled that served as the impetus for Portago's exploration of the carvings. Presented here are classic-era (1880s-1940s) Hopi and Zuni carved dolls that have rarely been displayed. Portago gracefully photographed these rare figures using available light so as not to distort their colors, and to reveal their drama and passion.