Untitled Kiowa Painting of an Eagle Dancer by Stephen Mopope [SOLD]

This untitled painting appears to be an Eagle Dancer. This piece is rich and glorious with amazing color usage. Mopope’s detailing is wonderful and his use of buckskin color paper adds depth to the work. The dancer’s face is filled with determination and pride, lending itself to extreme drama.  The details of the feather bustle, feather wings and the head roach are minutely displayed, a clear demonstration of the talent of this amazing artist.

Stephen Mopope (1898-1974) Qued Koi was born and raised on the Kiowa Reservation, Indian Territory, which later became Oklahoma. For most of his life, he was a painter and dancer. Mopope’s grandfather was a Spanish captive, kidnapped by the Kiowa from a wagon train crossing the prairie and reared by Chief Many Bears. On the Kiowa side, he was a descendant of Appiatan, a noted Kiowa warrior. Mopope’s childhood education by his grandmother was in the Kiowa tradition. Additionally, he studied with Susie Peters of the Kiowa Agency in Anadarko, Oklahoma, and at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, in the late 1920s. He is one of the original Oklahoma artists known as the “Kiowa Five.”

Condition: We recently examined this painting out of the frame and noticed that the previous mat board covered a quarter-inch of the feather tips of the eagle wing.  Even though there is a very slight change in paper color, we chose to expose the tips of the feathers.  This painting has been newly framed and matted.

Provenance: this Untitled Kiowa Painting of an Eagle Dancer by Stephen Mopope is from the collection of an acquaintance from Pennsylvania

Recommended Reading:  There is a large section on Kiowa art in The Arts of the North American Indian—Native Traditions in Evolution

Relative Links: Native American Paintings, Kiowa Reservation, Kiowa Six, Stephen Mopope