Huge Otto Pentewa Kwewu or Wolf Katsina

Buffalo Barry's Indian Art

I’ve had a lot of unusual katsinam by innovative carver, Otto Pentewa, and this is one of the best. He frequently made Wolf katsinam and this has great character and personality. The carving is very large at 19″ tall with the professional base adding 1″. Note the lolling red felt tongue. A knowledgeable friend tells me the pelt on the head may be fox. Otto was known to use whatever was at hand on his katsinam. The ketoh on this katsina was missing so I had it professionally restored based on ketohs on other Pentewa carvings. I also cleaned up the pelt, by gently shaping it, but I did not remove any. In my opinion, one of Otto’s best. In photo 3, I’ve shown a 9″ Ma’lo by Otto for scale. See the chapter on him in my book, “The Great Tradition of Hopi Katsina Carvers, 1880 – Present.”

$3,650.00

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