Allan Capron Houser, often called Allan Haozous, was one of the most popular Native American (Chiricahua Apache) painters and sculptors of the 20th century. Houser was born in 1914 in Oklahoma. He studied at the Dorothy Dunn’s Art Institute at the Sante Fe Indian School. Despite being the top student, his style did not align with Dunn’s as she encouraged taking into account personal memories, steering away from perspective & modelling while stylising Native iconography, which felt too confined for Allan Haozous.
Courtesy – Google Doodles
Allan Haozous artwork is heralded as a new age for modernist Native American art. Despite having a mastery over different mediums, he is most often known for his sculptures. His work is a staple in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Oklahoma State Capital building, the University of British Columbia, the British Royal Collection, the Japan Royal Collection, Centre Pompidou, and numerous art institutes and collections over the United States. In 1992, he became the first Native American to receive the National Medal of Arts. Allan Haozous aged eighty died in August 1994 due to colon cancer.
Allan Haozous Art Journey
Allan Houser Haozous’s journey began with the prestigious 1939 New York World Fair where he showcased some of his early creations. In the same year, he was commissioned to paint a mural for the Main Interior Building in Washington DC. In the following year, he was commissioned by the Department of Interiors to paint a life-sized mural indoors. During the years of World War II, he worked at the Los Angeles shipyards in the day. By night, he would paint and sculpt at the Pasadena Art Centre. It was then that he was bewitched by the modernist works of Jean Arp, Constantin Brâncuși, Henry Moore, and Barbara Hepworth. Their modernist take on abstract forms and sculptural figures still ripples in Allan Haozous work.
Allan Haozous Sculpture
Up until 1940, Allan Haozous primarily worked with wood. After World War II, Haskell Institute, Kansas wished to honour lost student lives through a sculptural stone memorial. Through his ambitious idea, he was able to turn the jury around blessing the world with ‘Comrade in Mourning’, made of white Carrara marble in 1948. This was a big moment as it was the first time, Native American art was thrust into the limelight.
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In 1962, Allan Houser Haozous became the sculptural department’s head at the Institute of American Indian Art. It was during this time that he experimented with bronze, making his first bronze sculpture in 1967. Taking ideas from his surroundings and the brunt of the Native Americans, he created modernist masterpieces incorporating tribal iconography and abstract lexicon.
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With his retirement in 1975, he devoted himself to sculpting. This was when he produced the iconic ‘Lead Singer’, ‘Abstract Crown Dancer’, and ‘The Mystic.’ Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the release of Apache prisoners-of-war from Fort Sill, Allan Houser Haozous’s life-size bronze sculpture, ‘Chiricahua Apache Family’ was installed at the Fort Sill Apache Tribal Centre in 1983. In 1986, he created Geronimo’s bronze bust to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Chiricahua Apache surrender. During his final years, Allan Houser worked extensively. He produced ‘Offering of the Sacred Pipe’ (1985), ‘As Long As the Waters Flow’ (1989), ‘Sacred Rain Arrow’ (1991), and ‘May We Have Peace’ (1994).
Allan Haozous Paintings
He took on the role of an art teacher at the Intermountain Public School between 1952 and 1962. Owing to Allan Haozous nationality as an American citizen and his ethnicity as an Apache, he got to mingle and teach in the school which was populated mostly by Navajo students. Aside from teaching, he experimented with oil on canvas, watercolours, and myriad mediums. He also made illustrations and paintings for seven books. In 1975, he was commissioned to paint the official portrait of Stewart Udall, the 37th US Secretary of the Interior.
Image Courtesy – Santa Fe New Mexican
