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ArtistAmerican, born Germany, 1843-1925
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Modísi, A Moki girl.
  • Modeski, A Moki Girl
Date1879
MediumAlbumen silver print from glass negative
DimensionsImage: 9 1/16 × 7 3/16 in. (23 × 18.2 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/16 × 7 3/16 in. (23 × 18.2 cm)
Mount: 14 15/16 × 12 15/16 in. (38 × 32.8 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by various donors in memory Cindi Blakely
Object number2023.277
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

To signify her unmarried status, this Moki, or Hopi, girl wears a tightly wrapped “butterfly” or “ram’s horns” hairstyle and cornmeal dust on her face. John K. Hillers documented the customs and material culture of Native Americans as part of a survey team that studied the geography, geology, and ethnography of the New Mexico and Arizona territories for the research files of the Smithsonian Institution. Hillers spent more than 20 years exploring and photographing the American West and its Indigenous peoples.


Provenance[Lumière des Roses, Montreuil, France]; Private collection, 2014; [Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco]; purchased by MFAH, 2023.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in negative, recto, bottom left: Modísi, A Moki girl.
Inscribed in negative, recto, bottom right: Hillers, photo.
Inscribed in pencil, mount verso, top right: A0116[?]100

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

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