A Guide to Zuni Fetishes & Carvings, Volume II: The Materials & The Carvers

by Kent McManis, Robin Stancliff

Kent McManis has written a welcome sequel to his immensely popular book that covered the essentials of animal fetish carvings. Now he leads us further into this fascinating and expanding art form. VOLUME THE MATERIALS AND THE CARVERS describes the many materials that Zuni artists work with today and discusses eleven more carving families. As McManis' many readers have come to expect, the book is loaded with photographs of contemporary fetishes by the best Zuni carvers, from the traditional white healing bears carved out of alabaster to a lapis lazuli mountain lion for deer hunting. The whimsical and innovative are also included, such as a Picasso marble dinosaur and a stained glass mole.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art

64 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually ordered volume 1 and received this in error. I was looking for more background information about the carving tradition and the symbolic meaning of the various animals/colors/stones. But obviously this shipping mistake is not the author's fault, and this is an excellent guide if you want historical information about changing materials usage, major figures in the field, family connections, and who trained or influenced whom. Very clearly written, good (if tiny) photographs, charts showing relationships.

Even without this being what I was looking for, I did enjoy it and learned some interesting facts. For instance, many of the materials in use today are not native to the Americas but imported from all around the world (and some are man made!). Picasso marble, a type of limestone that is now the most popular fetish material, was not used until the 1980s! While serpentine has been used since prehistoric times. Turquoise was always much desired and traded from all over; it was imported from Persia as early as 1890. I wish mre details like this made it into historical fiction.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential for collectors – fun for the curious

Fully illustrated with 245 fetishes in full color. Plus, charts, maps, and family trees.

By now the purchaser knows about Zuni Fetishes. This is a good collection of contemporary. However, one of the reasons this book excels is because it focuses on the materials that make the fetishes and their carveability.

I became intrigued by fetishes after reading “People of Darkness” by Tony Hillerman