Acee Blue Eagle
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Acee Blue Eagle (17 August 1907 – 18 June 1959) was a
Native American art The visual arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which in ...
ist, educator, dancer, and
Native American flute The Native American flute is a musical instrument and flute that is held in front of the player, has open finger holes, and has two chambers: one for collecting the breath of the player and a second chamber which creates sound. The player breat ...
player,Wyckoff, 92 who directed the art program at Bacone College. His birth name was Alexander C. McIntosh, he also went by Chebon Ahbulah (Laughing Boy), and Lumhee Holot-Tee (Blue Eagle), and was an enrolled member of the
Muscogee (Creek) Nation The Muscogee Nation, or Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy, a large group of indigenous peoples of the South ...
.


Early life and education

Alexander C. McIntosh was born north of
Anadarko, Oklahoma Anadarko is a city in and the county seat of Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The city is 50 miles (80.5 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. The population was 5,745 at the 2020 census. History Anadarko got its name when its post offic ...
on August 17, 1907; however, his birth year is also given as 1909. His father was Solomon McIntosh (Muscogee), and his mother was Martha "Mattie" Odom McIntosh. His Muscogee Creek great-grandfather served as a chief for 31 years.Lester, 73 Blue Eagle studied
Haskell Institute Haskell Indian Nations University (Haskell or HINU) is a Public university, public tribal university, tribal land-grant university in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1884 as a residential boarding school for Native American children ...
,
Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...
, and then Chilocco Indian Agricultural School, where he earned his high school diploma in 1928. He began college at Bacone College in Muskogee and then studied art at
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
(OU) in Norman in 1932. While at OU, Blue Eagle studied painting under Oscar B. Jacobson, known for popularizing " Flatstyle" painting. Blue Eagle served for three years in the
United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...
during World War II.


Teaching career

Blue Eagle joined the art department at Bacone College in 1935, where he directed the program until 1938 and helped shaped development of the Bacone style of painting and grow the department. After the war, he taught at Oklahoma State Technical School in Okmulgee.


Art career

Blue Eagle's work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the
1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...
. In 1935, Blue Eagle was invited to give a series of lectures on American Indian art at
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
in England. By 1938, his work had become nationally recognized, and he had a solo exhibition at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City. From 1936 to 1937, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Norman exhibited the solo show, ''Acee Blue Eagle, Bacone, water-colors''. In the 1940s, he created a number of works for his friend, the collector
Thomas Gilcrease William Thomas Gilcrease (February 8, 1890 – May 6, 1962) was an Muscogee-American oilman, art collector, and philanthropist. During his lifetime, Gilcrease collected more than 10,000 artworks, 250,000 Native American artifacts and 100,000 ...
. Blue Eagle gained worldwide fame during his lifetime, and his two-dimensional paintings hang in private and public galleries all over the world. Blue Eagle was well known for painting large interior murals, some of which are still preserved in Oklahoma, for the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
art projects. In 1934 he was invited to join the Public Works of Art Project; one of his murals was in the dining hall of the . He was commissioned to paint two murals for classrooms in the health and physical education building of Oklahoma College for Women, now the
University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) is a public liberal arts college in Chickasha, Oklahoma. It is the only public college in Oklahoma with a strictly liberal arts–focused curriculum and is a member of the Council of Publ ...
, in
Chickasha, Oklahoma Chickasha is a city in and the county seat of Grady County, Oklahoma, Grady County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 16,051 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 0.1% increase from 2010. The city is named for and strongly ...
.McLerran, Jennifer. ''A New Deal for Native Art: Indian Arts and Federal Policy, 1933–1943'' (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2009), 266. He completed PWAP murals at other Oklahoma colleges, including one in the auditorium of Central State College (now
University of Central Oklahoma The University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) is a public university in Edmond, Oklahoma, United States. It is the third largest university in Oklahoma, with almost 13,000 students and approximately 430 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty. Founded in ...
in Edmond) and in the administration building of Northeastern State Teachers College (now Northeastern State University in Tahlequah). For the
Section of Painting and Sculpture Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section s ...
, Blue Eagle painted United States post office murals in Seminole, Oklahoma (1939) and Coalgate, Oklahoma (1942).
Fred Beaver Fred Beaver (2 July 1911 – 18 August 1980) was a prominent Muscogee Creek-Seminole painter and muralist from Oklahoma.Lester, Patrick D. ''The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters.'' Norman and London: The Oklahoma University Pre ...
, a Muscogee Creek/
Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
artist, restored Blue Eagle's Coalgate mural in 1965. Blue Eagle's work was part of ''Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting'' (2019–2021), a survey at the National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center.


Awards and honors

Blue Eagle was elected into the Indian Hall of Fame, Who's Who of Oklahoma, and the
International Who's Who ''The International Who's Who'' is a Who's Who series of reference books of notable people worldwide that has been published annually since 1935. History The first edition was published in 1935 by Europa Publications. The eighth edition (1943– ...
. He was chosen "Outstanding Indian in the United States" in 1958. Among his many honors, Blue Eagle received a medal for eight paintings at the National Museum of Ethiopia, presented by the Emperor
Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...
. Fellow Oklahoma artist and muralist Charles Banks Wilson said of Blue Eagle, "Acee was the
Dale Carnegie Dale Carnegie ( ; spelled Carnagey until c. 1922; November 24, 1888 – November 1, 1955) was an American writer and teacher of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. Born into ...
of Indian Art. Curator and art historian Jeanne O. Snodgrass wrote in 1968, "If Oklahoma has a foundation in Indian Art, it is with Acee Blue Eagle."


Personal

Blue Eagle was briefly married to Indonesian American actress Devi Dja. Blue Eagle's cousin was painter Solomon McCombs (Muscogee/Seminole). Another cousin, Howard Rufus Collins, painted under the name Ducee Blue Buzzard, as a parody of Acee's name.Gregory, Strickland, and Blue Buzzard, 49


Death and legacy

Acee Blue Eagle died on June 18, 1959, and is buried in the National Cemetery at Fort Gibson,
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
. Tamara Liegerot Elder published a biography of the artist: ''Lumhee Holot-tee: The Art and Life of Acee Blue Eagle'', in 2006 through Medicine Wheel Press. At
Haskell Indian Nations University Haskell Indian Nations University (Haskell or HINU) is a public tribal land-grant university in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1884 as a residential boarding school for Native American children, the school has developed into a univ ...
, a business administration building is named Blue Eagle Hall in his honor.


Notes


References

* Elder, Tamara Liegerot. ''Lumhee Holot-tee: The Art and Life of Acee Blue Eagle''. Edmond, OK: Medicine Wheel Press, 2006. . * Jack Gregory and Rennard Strickland, editors. Ducee Blue Buzzard, illustrator. ''American Indian Spirit Tales: Redbirds, Ravens, and Coyotes''. Muscogee, Oklahoma: Indian Heritage Association, 1974. ASIN B0006W9L16. * Lester, Patrick D. ''The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters''. Norman and London: The Oklahoma University Press, 1995. . * Morand, Anne, Kevin Smith, Daniel C. Swan, Sarah Erwin, ''Treasures of Gilcrease: Selections from the Permanent Collection'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005),
excerpt available
at
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
). * Wyckoff, Lydia L. ''Visions and Voices: Native American Painting from the Philbrook Museum of Art''. Tulsa, OK: Philbrook Museum of Art, 1996. .


External links


Register to the Papers of Acee Blue Eagle
National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Blue Eagle, Acee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Eagle, Acee 1907 births 1959 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters American muralists Bacone College alumni Bacone College faculty American modern painters Muscogee (Creek) Nation people Native American painters Painters from Oklahoma Public Works of Art Project artists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists University of Oklahoma alumni Art competitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics Native American male artists 20th-century Native American artists 20th-century American male artists