Framed Silkscreen, "Kiowa Family" by Bou-ge-tah, CSIB-09

A framed silkcreen, "Kiowa Family" by Louis Smokey(1907-1981) or Bou-ge-tah. Like many successful Oklahoma Indian Artists, he attended the St. Patrick’s Mission School where he was first taught about art by a Choctaw Nun. Government field matron Susie Peters arranged for Mrs. Willie Baze Lane, an artist from Chickasaw, to provide further art instruction for young Kiowa artists. Recognizing the talent of some of the young artists, Peters convinced Swedish-American artist Oscar Jacobson director of the University of Oklahoma’s  School of Art, to accept the Kiowa students into a special program at the school. The group of artists formed the” Kiowa Six”, although there were only five active at a time. Their work was first shown at a major venue in 1928 at the First International Art Exposition in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Dr. Jacobson arranged for their work to be shown in several other countries and for Kiowa Art, a portfolio of the artists' paintings, to be published in France. Smokey was the only woman in the group and left school in before the group had its groundbreaking show in Europe, however her work was included. Her place was taken by James Auchiah, but she is now officially recognized as a member of the Kiowa Six. And, she should be. When the group was first in Norman at school, her parents put up the money to rent the house they lived in!  Because her work is the rarest of the Kiowa Six, she is the most collectible. This watercolor, title, “Kiowa Family” measures 9” x 12” and is in a beautiful frame measuring 16” x 19”.