Robert Freeman, Untitled
Robert Freeman
1939-2019
Hunkpapa and Yanktonai Sioux / Luiseno
Date
1977
Medium Specific
Ink on matboard
Classification
Drawing
Dimensions
9 x 27 in. (22.9 x 68.6 cm.)
Accession Number
2025.35.22.104
Credit
Gift of Jacquelyn and Robert Slotkin
Memo / Artist Statement
His life work encompassed realism, abstractionism, cubism, impressionism, portraiture, cartoons, and murals. Freeman worked mainly with pencil or pen, acrylic, mixed media, and oils and created wood and bronze sculptures that he cast himself.
Biography
Robert Freeman was born on the Rincon Reservation of the Luiseno Indians in San Diego County, California in 1939. His father was Luiseno and English. His mother was of English, French, and Sioux descent.
Freeman’s childhood summers were spent with his grandmother and cousins on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota, where he was an enrolled member. He attended grade school and high school in Escondido, California. When he was 18, he enlisted in the Army and served three years in South Korea before receiving an honorable discharge. After his discharge from the Army, he held many jobs to support himself but always loved sketching and creating sculptures. Freeman established a following for his drawings and woodcarvings with his natural, self-taught ability and became a full-time artist in 1967.
By 1980’s and 90’s Freeman had won over 200 art awards and had become a well-seasoned International artist with exhibits in Mexico, Canada, Germany, Japan, Senegal West Africa, and the Vatican in Rome. For decades, he kept an art gallery on the Rincon Reservation until his passing in 2019.
(https://aktalakota.stjo.org/artists-authors/freeman-robert/)
http://www.robertfreemanartist.com
Freeman’s childhood summers were spent with his grandmother and cousins on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota, where he was an enrolled member. He attended grade school and high school in Escondido, California. When he was 18, he enlisted in the Army and served three years in South Korea before receiving an honorable discharge. After his discharge from the Army, he held many jobs to support himself but always loved sketching and creating sculptures. Freeman established a following for his drawings and woodcarvings with his natural, self-taught ability and became a full-time artist in 1967.
By 1980’s and 90’s Freeman had won over 200 art awards and had become a well-seasoned International artist with exhibits in Mexico, Canada, Germany, Japan, Senegal West Africa, and the Vatican in Rome. For decades, he kept an art gallery on the Rincon Reservation until his passing in 2019.
(https://aktalakota.stjo.org/artists-authors/freeman-robert/)
http://www.robertfreemanartist.com
Date of Bio
Inscription
Robert Freeman, 77 (lrc)