Description:
Watercolor on Paper. Stamped u.r.: PLANCHE 49.
From: American Indian Painters, Vol. 2, p. 7: Walter Mottzska was born near Oraibi, Arizona, in 1903. His first contact with art and artists was with Fred Kabotie. When Fred was in Shungapavy Day School, in 1929, Mootzka used frequently to ride over from Oraibi to watch him paint. He secured watercolors and paper and began to paint Katchinas at home, learning from Kabotie all the secrets of watercolor technique. He tried to imitate his work. One of his pictures in the "School Art Magazine" was such a close copy of the older painter's work that Kabotie was quite astonished when he saw the signature on the reproduction. Later he made his way to the Indian School in Santa Fe. He did not remain long as a student, however, but found employment in town. During that period he seems to have produced a number of watercolors. But he abandoned painting for Indian silver work and was engaged in this latter profession when he met is death in an accident in Phoenix, Arizona. Mootzka was a quiet type of person and well like by his associates. While he was in Santa Fe his parents were converted to the Christian faith. Whether young Mootzka disapproved of his parents' action is not known, but he never returned home again. "Two Deer Dancers" is from his middle period and evidently done after his contact with the Santa Fe group. It represents two men getting ready for the Deer Dance in the annual festival of the Hopis. The two sticks that the men carry represent the slender front limbs of the animals. The costumes are symbolical and the dance is, of course, a prayer for an abundant supply of meat. (Collection, University of Oklahoma)