Artwork Page for Koshare Contest

Details / Information for Koshare Contest

Koshare Contest

c. 1920s

Awa Tsireh (Alfonso Roybal)

(San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1895–1955)

Julian Martinez

(San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1879–1943)
Culture
America, Native America, San Ildefonso pueblo, Early 20th century
Medium
watercolor
Measurements
Page: 57.5 x 36.5 cm (22 5/8 x 14 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Educational Purchase Fund 1928.314
Copyright
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

This painting depicts the pole climb that occurs every year during the San Gerónimo Feast Day in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. The striped characters clambering up the pole toward a treasure are koshare (co-shar-eh), the sacred clowns of Pueblo religion. Like European American clowns, koshare provide comic entertainment, but they are much more complex. For instance, they behave in exaggerated ways that turn social norms upside down, thus highlighting and reinforcing the norms.
A vertically oriented watercolor painting depicts seven figures with medium-light skin tones on tan paper. They wear horizontal black and white stripes and striped headdresses with yellow tufts. Five figures climb a central tan pole, reaching for a colorful bird hanging from a crossbar. At the base, one figure points upward while another stands still. Their eyes and mouths are circled in white. The red signature Julian Martinez is at bottom right.

Koshare Contest

c. 1920s

Awa Tsireh (Alfonso Roybal), Julian Martinez

(San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1895–1955), (San Ildefonso Pueblo, 1879–1943)
America, Native America, San Ildefonso pueblo, Early 20th century

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