Lot 141
Helen Cordero (Native American, Cochiti Pueblo, 1915 to 1994) "Story Teller with Eight Children," pottery, ca. mid to late 20th century CE. A polychrome storyteller and mother figure with 8 children, her mouth open, based on the traditional singing mother motif passing cultural knowledge and stories to the next generation. The underside is signed "Helen Cordero / Cochiti N Mex." In 1985, Cordero received the prestigious title of Santa Fe Living Treasure and was also a recipient of the 1986 National Heritage Fellowship presented by the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government in the realm of folk and traditional arts! Cordero's artwork is displayed in several prominent institutions, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, Museum of International Folk Art and the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Museum of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, and the Brooklyn Museum. Size: 9" L x 6.5" W x 9.75" H (22.9 cm x 16.5 cm x 24.8 cm)
Published on the Smithsonian's artist biography page: "Helen Cordero is known for her "storyteller" figures from Cochiti folklore. Her work helped to revive interest in the craft in 1964 when she sold her experimental figures at the Santo Domingo feast-day market (Charles Rosenak, "The Storytellers," Indians of New Mexico, 1990). Cordero used clay found around her home and fired her pieces over an open cedar flame. She was inspired to create these figures by memories of her grandfather, a Cochiti storyteller who was "always surrounded by enraptured small children." (Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia, 1990)
Provenance: private Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA collection, acquired in the mid-1990s
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#181884
- Condition: Some surface chips and abrasions to pigments. Faint and stable hairline fissure on left leg near hip. Otherwise great condition. Clearly signed on base with old inventory label.
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