145 - “Holder of the Pipe,” Allan Houser (Apache, Oklahoma 1914–1994 Santa Fe, New Mexico), 1989

“Holder of the Pipe,” Allan Houser (Apache, Oklahoma 1914–1994 Santa Fe, New Mexico), 1989 Bronze, patinated dark brown to black, on a round wooden base. Signed “ALLAN HOUSER” in the cast on the back of the plinth, dated “© 89,” numbered “5/10,” and bearing the foundry mark “SF” of the Shidoni Foundry, Tesuque, New Mexico. Standing male figure in a floor-length cloak, head slightly raised, holding a long-stemmed pipe with a bowl set at a right angle in his right hand in front of his body; integrally cast plinth with a relief-like textured surface. Patina on exposed areas, particularly on the face, shoulders, and drapery of the cloak, with partial lighter shading. The surface of the sculpture shows isolated small scratch marks. On the reverse, immediately above the plinth, there are three small, dot-like indentations or casting irregularities. Fine scratch marks on the plinth’s surface near the inscription, as well as isolated light deposits in the indentations of the surface texture. Wooden base with minor signs of wear. Bronze approx. 59 × 22 × 13 cm; wooden base H. approx. 4 cm. Houser, a member of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, is considered one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Native American sculpture and combined indigenous iconography with an increasingly modernist, abstract formal language. Condition: I–II