Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Paintings
Ledger drawings
Date:
1929
Scope and Contents:
Includes twenty-four prints illustrating dancers, figures in traditional attire, and ceremonial events. Each sheet is numbered in the upper right corner, with numbers 1 through 30, complete except for 3, 5, 7, 22, 26, and 29. The prints are from a portfolio containing 30 plates and an accompanying text by Jacobson published by C. Szwedizicki, Nice, France. There are related prints in the Acee Blue Eagle collection, including the original painting on which Plate 27 is based. The painters are the so-called Kiowa Five, renamed the Kiowa Six: Jack Hokeah, Spencer Asah, Bougetah (Lois) Smoky, Stephen Mopope, and Monroe Tsatoke. For this set of drawings, an electrostatic copy of the text as published in 1979 with an essay by Jamake Highwater and the Jacobson text in French with an added translation in English has been added (Oscar Brousse Jacobson, Kiowa Indian Art: Watercolor Paintings in Color by the Indians of Oklahoma) with an introductory essay by Jamake Highwater, Bell Editions, Santa Fe, ca. 1979). The locations of the missing art and the original 1929 text and covers are not known.
Biographical / Historical:
The Kiowa Five were a group of painters who earned national and international acclaim during the early twentieth century. The group actually consisted of six individuals, Spencer Asah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Monroe Tsatoke, Lois Smoky, and James Auchiah. A number of the artists attended St. Patrick's Mission School in Anadarko, Oklahoma, where they received art instruction from Sister Olivia Taylor. Susan Peters, a government field matron, also took an interest in the young artists' work. She arranged for an artist from Chickasha, Mrs. Willie Baze Lane, to provide art lessons. Eventually Ms. Peters persuaded Dr. Oscar Jacobson, head of the school of art at the University of Oklahoma, to provide additional training for the artists. In 1926, Asah, Hokeah, Tsatoke, and Mopope arrived at the University. The artists were not officially enrolled, but they received special instruction from Jacobson and Dr. Edith Mahier, another professor in the school of art. In January 1927, Lois Smoky, a young Kiowa woman, arrived to study with the other artists. In spring, the artists were compelled to return home to attend to agricultural pursuits. They returned in the fall, accompanied by James Auchiah, the sixth and final student. Shortly thereafter, Lois Smoky withdrew from the program and returned home. Dr. Oscar Jacobson arranged for the Kiowa artists' paintings to be exhibited in 1928 at the First International Art Exposition - formally titled the 1928 International Art Congress (of the International Federation for Art Education, Drawing and Art Applied to Industries)- in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1929, Kiowa Art, a portfolio of the artists' paintings was published in France. For additional information on these artists, see: Jeanne O. Snodgrass, American Indian Painters - A Biographical Directory, Museum of the American Indian Heye Foundation, 1968, and John Anson Warner, "Native American Painting in Oklahoma: Continuity and Change." The Journal of Intercultural Studies, 23: 14-129, 1996.
Stephen Mopope also known as Qued Koi (Painted Robe) was born on August 27, 1898 near Red Stone Baptist Church on the Kiowa Reservation. He attended St. Patrick's Mission School in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He died on February 3, 1974.
Spencer Asah also known as Lallo (Little Boy) was born between 1905 and 1910 near Carnegie, Oklahoma. He attended various government Indian schools and St. Patrick's Mission School, Anadarko, Oklahoma. He died in 1954.
James Auchiah was born in 1906 near Medicine Park, Oklahoma. He attended St. Patrick's Mission School in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He died on December 28, 1974.
Jack Hokeah was born in 1902 in western Oklahoma. He attended St. Patrick's Mission School in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He died on December 14, 1969.
Monroe Tsatoke also known as Tsa To Kee (Hunting Horse) was born September 29, 1904 at Saddle Mountain, Oklahoma. He attended Rainy Mountain Indian School near Carnegie, Oklahoma and Bacone College. He died on February 3, 1937.
Lois Smokey also known as Bougetah (Of the Dawn) was born in 1907, near Anadarko, Oklahoma. She died on February 1, 1981.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 7536
NAA INV 09064600-09066900
Local Note:
Information for the collection level record was drawn from Oscar Brousse Jacobson, Kiowa Indian Art: Watercolor Paintings in Color by the Indians of Oklahoma (with an introductory essay by Jamake Highwater), Bell Editions, 1979.
Album Information:
MS 7536 000
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Ledger drawings
Citation:
Manuscript 7536, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Ledger drawings
Date:
ca. 1880s
Scope and Contents:
Drawings of scenes of warfare, courting, camps, and geometric figures on pages of a ledger book, now disbound, many with identifying captions in unknown hand. Some of the drawings have been identified as having been created by a different, most likely non-native artist. The following items were received with the ledger book and are now included in the manuscript: a drawing on sheet from a small ruled tablet, now torn in two, and a broadside sheet, now torn in two, with site plan and perspective drawing of the trading post of N. W. Evans and Co., Fort Reno, Indian Territory, March, 1882. Also included are letters regarding the purchase of the manuscript from Mr. Dorsey Griffith.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4653
Place:
United States Indian Territory Fort Reno.
United States Oklahoma Fort Reno.
Album Information:
MS 4653 000
Provenance:
Griffith, Dorsey
Genre/Form:
Ledger drawings
Citation:
Manuscript 4653, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
