Winners and Losers of a Stickball Game, 1970 [SOLD]

Fred Beaver wrote notes on the backs of these two paintings.  On one he wrote “The losers of a ball game leaving the ball field.  Some wounded.  Often they are forcibly run off after perhaps a blood fight.”  On the other he wrote “Winners of a game always rally around their goal Posts.”

The Creek Nation artist obviously painted these as a pair and they are being offered only as a pair.  Each is signed and dated with the year 1970.

Beaver was born in Eufaula, Oklahoma in 1911. In 1931, he graduated from Eufaula High School where he was an All-State football and basketball player. He attended Bacone College and in 1935, graduated from Haskell Business College. He worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Army Air Corps until 1960 when he retired to pursue a career of painting full time.

In 1963, he won the Phillips Outstanding Indian Artist Trophy. He was commissioned to paint several murals in businesses including the Thunderbird Restaurant and Motel in Oklahoma City, and the Seminole Arts and Crafts Center in West Hollywood, Florida. His awards are too numerous to list here, but several of them are: Outstanding Indian of the Year (1979), Outstanding Oklahoman of the Year (1976), and Designated a Master Artist (1973).

Condition: original condition

Provenance: this painting of Winners and Losers of a Stickball Game, 1970 is from a former client collector from Oklahoma

Recommended Reading: Splendid Heritage—Perspectives on American Indian Art