Wilson Tawaquaptewa – Very Large Owl-like Creation

This is the largest carving by Wilson Tawaquaptewa (1873-1960) that I’ve had. It is 16″ tall and 5 1/2″ wide. The professional base adds 1 3/8″. In fact, this is the largest Tawaquaptewa I’ve seen anywhere except for the astounding 33″ example in the Heard Museum collection. It resembles a Mongwu or Great Horned Owl, but as with all his carvings, he deliberately distorted it due to his religious conviction that accurate representations should not be sold. The distortions include what I call the “barbed wire motif” body paint. Someone else has referred to this paint design as resembling dragon flies, which is an interesting alternative take. The provenance on this piece includes the beloved old “Kachina House” in Santa Fe which closed years ago. As shown in photo 3, the notation the two owners used to mark their inventory is inscribed on one foot, “KH SF NM.” I’ve provided photo 2 showing three creations by Tawaquaptewa for scale. This “Owl” came to me from a French collection.