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Pencil on paper
Dimensions: 19.5 x 25.5
Gift of Judge Robert Henry, 2005

The Artwork

This pencil on paper work is believed to be the study for Stephen Mopope's tempera on paper painting, Buffalo Hunter. The study differs from the painting in a couple of aspects including the lack of ground.

The Artist

Stephen Mopope, Kiowa, was born August 27, 1898 on the Kiowa Reservation in Indian Territory. Mopope was one of the famed “Kiowa Artists,” a group of artists which are credited with developing the "flat" contemporary style of Native American painting.

Mopope was one of six young Kiowa Indians who were afforded the opportunity to attend the University of Oklahoma in non-accredited painting instruction under Oscar Jacobson's leadership of the art department. It was at the university that his talent began to develop and he became an accomplished painter. During his career had several government commissions, including the Anadarko Post Office, which he painted murals of traditional Kiowa life. Mopope was one of Oklahoma’s great cultural treasures. He passed away on February 3, 1975 in Ft. Cobb, Oklahoma.