Allen Sapp, Untitled
Allen Sapp
1928-2015
Cree
Date
c.1970
Medium Specific
Oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
30 x 48 in. (76.2 x 121.9 cm)
Accession Number
2014.35.15.09
Credit
Gift of Anne and Charles Marmar
Memo / Artist Statement
" I can't write a story or tell one in the white man's language so I tell what I want to say with my paintings . . . I put it down so it doesn't get lost and people will be able to see and remember."
-- ALLEN SAPP (Allen Sapp Gallery website)
-- ALLEN SAPP (Allen Sapp Gallery website)
Biography
Allen Sapp, artist (born 2 January 1929 on the Red Pheasant IR, SK; died 29 December 2015 in North Battleford, SK). As a child, his favourite activity was drawing and sketching. He moved from the Plains Cree reserve to North Battleford, Sask, in 1960 to pursue a career as a professional artist. In 1966, Dr A.B. Gonor arranged for him to be tutored by Wynona Mulcaster of Saskatoon. Gonor continued to work with Sapp, encouraging him to paint the reserve life as he knew it.
Sapp is widely regarded as one of Canada's foremost Aboriginal painters. Sapp's success as a painter in the realist tradition (associated more with European art) made him a pioneer of the new Indigenous arts. His paintings depict the ordinary day to day life he lived with his grandparents on the reserve in the 1930's and 1940's. Although all his images are drawn from his own personal experience, his work has come to be seen as a sensitive portrayal of the life of the Northern Plains Cree in the early part of the 20th century. Sapp continued to paint into his 70s and frequently produced images of contemporary Cree culture, such as colourful powwows alongside dynamic chuckwagon races.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/
Sapp is widely regarded as one of Canada's foremost Aboriginal painters. Sapp's success as a painter in the realist tradition (associated more with European art) made him a pioneer of the new Indigenous arts. His paintings depict the ordinary day to day life he lived with his grandparents on the reserve in the 1930's and 1940's. Although all his images are drawn from his own personal experience, his work has come to be seen as a sensitive portrayal of the life of the Northern Plains Cree in the early part of the 20th century. Sapp continued to paint into his 70s and frequently produced images of contemporary Cree culture, such as colourful powwows alongside dynamic chuckwagon races.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/
Date of Bio