Kachina Doll (Taawa)
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Caption
Henry Shelton 1929–2016; Pueblo, Hopi. Kachina Doll (Taawa), 1960–1970. Cottonwood root, acrylic pigment, silver discs, yarn, silk ribbon, fur, beads, 20 1/2 × 7 × 8 in. (52.1 × 17.8 × 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Edith and Hershel Samuels, 2010.6.8. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.2010.6.8.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Culture
Title
Kachina Doll (Taawa)
Date
1960–1970
Geography
Place made: Oraibi, Third Mesa, Arizona, United States
Medium
Cottonwood root, acrylic pigment, silver discs, yarn, silk ribbon, fur, beads
Classification
Dimensions
20 1/2 × 7 × 8 in. (52.1 × 17.8 × 20.3 cm)
Signatures
H. Shelton, drawn arrow underneath, on bottom
Credit Line
Gift of Edith and Hershel Samuels
Accession Number
2010.6.8
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
What are Kachina dolls?
Kachina dolls are made to instruct children on the Kachina spirits. There are many different spirits and they can bring things like rain and fertility to a community.There are about 500 individual Kachina spirits! They are not activated until the doll has been painted and decorated. This particular Kachina doll was created by Harry Shelton.This Kachina doll represents Tawa (Sun). This Kachina is rarely seen and is part of the traditions of specific families.How does the Kachina doll relate to their ceremonial calendar?The Hopi and Zuni have complex calendars. They have different cycles of when Kachinas appear but all the ceremonies are related to agricultural seasons. Some ceremonies are tied to the summer and winter solstices, for example.This work is so much fun. Adorable but a bit unsettling.
That's one of a class of object known as Kachina dolls, an object use by several Pueblo Indian Tribes to educate children on the appearance and significance of the kachina spirits. They were traditionally given as a gift during ceremonies where masked men embodying the kachina performed dances, appealing to the spirits for their favor, usually related to agriculture seasons and the bringing of the rains.As you can probably see, this doll, and the one next to it are stylistically different from the others in the case. They were likely commissioned or made for sale in the 60s and 70s. This doll represents Tawa, the sun spirit and an important creator in Hopi origin stories. Pay close attention to the details. The skirt is not actually made of fabric but is carved into the wood.
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