Stephen Mopope, Women's Dance
Stephen Mopope
1898-1974
Kiowa
Date
1979
Medium Specific
Six-color Lithograph
Edition / State
Plate 24, Portfolio 128/750
Publisher
Bell Editions, Inc., Santa Fe, NM
Classification
Print
Dimensions
15 x 11 in. (38.1 x 27.9 cm)
Accession Number
2021.10.20.29
Memo / Artist Statement
From the portfolio "Kiowa Indian Art: Watercolor Paintings in Color by the Indians of Oklahoma", featuring 30 prints by a group of artists known as the Kiowa Five.The original portfolio was published by l'Edition d'Art, C. Szwedzicki in 1929 with Pochoir prints. The 1979 edition was published by Bell Editions, Inc. as lithograph reproductions that were created from #89/750 of the original 1929 edition. It also includes an introduction by Jamake Highwater, who also signed and numbered the booklet.
Biography
One of the most illustrious of the Kiowa artists of the twentieth century, Steven Mopope (Qued Koi, Painted Robe) was a prolific painter. His work is represented in galleries and collections throughout the United States. A descendant of Spaniards and Kiowas, he was born on August 27, 1898, on the Kiowa Reservation in Indian Territory. His maternal grandfather was the great Kiowa warrior Appiatan, and one of his great uncles was Silverhorn (Haungooah).
Mopope named Haungooah as his first great art teacher and the second, Sister Olivia at St. Patrick's Mission School. Another great-uncle was Oheltoint, who, with Haungooah, painted on tipis and produced other Kiowa art pieces. From their work Mopope acquired a wealth of cultural tradition. Kiowa Field Agency Matron Susie Peters provided additional instruction, and later, under the guidance of Professors Edith Mahier and Oscar B. Jacobson, Mopope studied at the University of Oklahoma.
The Kiowa Five included six artists: Spencer Asah, James Auchiah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Lois Smoky, and Monroe Tsatoke. In 1926 Asah, Hokeah, Tsatoke, Mopope, and Smoky moved to Norman, Oklahoma and began their art studies at OU. Smoky returned home late in 1927, but Auchiah joined the group that year.
In the 1928, the Kiowa Five debuted in the international fine arts world by participating in 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 pochoir prints artists' paintings to be published in France.
In addition to painting, Mopope was a flute player, an avid dancer, and a farmer. He was one of six Indian artists commissioned to paint murals in a new federal building for the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., along with fellow Kiowa artist James Auchiah. Mopope's mural subject is a ceremonial dance painted in oils, six by sixty feet in dimension. His themes invariably depict cultural aspects of Kiowa life.
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=MO017
Also see: Janet Berlo, "The Szwedzicki Portfolios of American Indian Art, 1929-1952: Kiowa Indian Art, Pueblo Indian Painting & Pueblo Indian Pottery", American Indian Art Magazine, Spring, 2009: 36-45.
Mopope named Haungooah as his first great art teacher and the second, Sister Olivia at St. Patrick's Mission School. Another great-uncle was Oheltoint, who, with Haungooah, painted on tipis and produced other Kiowa art pieces. From their work Mopope acquired a wealth of cultural tradition. Kiowa Field Agency Matron Susie Peters provided additional instruction, and later, under the guidance of Professors Edith Mahier and Oscar B. Jacobson, Mopope studied at the University of Oklahoma.
The Kiowa Five included six artists: Spencer Asah, James Auchiah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Lois Smoky, and Monroe Tsatoke. In 1926 Asah, Hokeah, Tsatoke, Mopope, and Smoky moved to Norman, Oklahoma and began their art studies at OU. Smoky returned home late in 1927, but Auchiah joined the group that year.
In the 1928, the Kiowa Five debuted in the international fine arts world by participating in 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 pochoir prints artists' paintings to be published in France.
In addition to painting, Mopope was a flute player, an avid dancer, and a farmer. He was one of six Indian artists commissioned to paint murals in a new federal building for the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., along with fellow Kiowa artist James Auchiah. Mopope's mural subject is a ceremonial dance painted in oils, six by sixty feet in dimension. His themes invariably depict cultural aspects of Kiowa life.
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=MO017
Also see: Janet Berlo, "The Szwedzicki Portfolios of American Indian Art, 1929-1952: Kiowa Indian Art, Pueblo Indian Painting & Pueblo Indian Pottery", American Indian Art Magazine, Spring, 2009: 36-45.
Date of Bio