Allan Houser facts for kids

Allan Capron Houser (born June 30, 1914 – died August 22, 1994) was a famous Chiricahua Apache artist from Oklahoma. He was known for his amazing sculptures, paintings, and book illustrations. Many people consider him one of the most important Native American artists of the 1900s.

You can find Houser's artwork in many famous places. These include the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.. His art is also in major museums across North America, Europe, and Japan. One of his sculptures, Offering of the Sacred Pipe, is even on display at the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York City.

Allan Houser's Early Life

Allan Houser was born in 1914 near Apache, Oklahoma. His parents were Sam and Blossom Haozous. Allan was special because he was the first person in his family born outside of captivity. His family belonged to the Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache tribe. This tribe had been held captive by the U.S. government since 1886. That was when their leader, Geronimo, surrendered. Geronimo was Allan's granduncle, and Allan's father, Sam, often helped Geronimo as a translator.

In 1934, when Allan was 20, he left Oklahoma. He went to study art at the Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His teacher, Dorothy Dunn, encouraged students to draw from their own memories. She also taught them to use Native American symbols in their art. Allan became one of her best students. He created hundreds of drawings and paintings there. However, he felt the art program was a bit too strict for his style.

Starting His Art Career

Allan Houser began his professional art career in 1939. His work was shown at big events like the 1939 New York World's Fair. He also got his first major job to paint murals in the Main Interior Building in Washington, D.C. Around this time, he married Anna Maria Gallegos, who would be his wife for 55 years.

In 1940, he received another job to paint large murals for the U.S. Department of Interior. He then went back to Fort Sill to learn from a Swedish artist named Olle Nordmark. Nordmark encouraged Allan to try sculpture. That year, Allan made his first wood carvings.

During World War II, Allan and his family moved to Los Angeles. He worked in shipyards during the day. At night, he continued to paint and sculpt. He met students and teachers from the Pasadena Art Center. There, he saw the modern sculptures of artists like Jean Arp, Constantin Brâncuși, and Henry Moore. These artists, along with Barbara Hepworth, who put holes in her sculptures, greatly influenced Allan's work.

After the war, Allan applied for a special project at the Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. This school wanted a sculpture to remember the students who died in the war. Allan had only carved wood before, never stone. But his drawings and strong belief convinced them. In 1948, he finished a huge sculpture called Comrades in Mourning. He made it from white Carrara marble. This artwork became very important for both Allan and for Native American art.

Teaching Art

In 1949, Allan Houser received a special award called a Guggenheim Fellowship. This award gave him two years to focus on his art and support his growing family.

From 1952 to 1962, Allan worked as an art teacher. He taught at the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah. This school was mainly for Navajo students. During these years, Allan had time to teach, raise his family, and focus on his painting. He created hundreds of paintings, trying out watercolors and oils. He also illustrated seven children's books, including a book about his granduncle Geronimo. One of his students there was the artist Robert Chee.

In 1962, Allan was asked to join the faculty of a new Native American art school. This was the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). He moved back to Santa Fe with his family to lead the sculpture department. In 1967, he started making his first bronze sculptures. Allan was both a student and a teacher at IAIA. He shared his own history and ideas with students from all over Native America. He began to use symbols from other tribes in his art. He mixed modern sculpture ideas with tribal art to create his own unique style.

In the early 1970s, Allan continued to teach at IAIA. He also started showing his art more often. As the head of the sculpture department, he wanted to work with many different materials. In 1970, he had a solo show at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. It featured sculptures made of stone, bronze, and welded steel. The next year, he showed paintings and sculptures at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1973, he won the Gold Medal in Sculpture at the Heard Museum Exhibition.

Allan continued to receive many awards and honors. In 1975, he painted the official portrait of former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. That same year, he had a solo show at the Governor's Gallery in Santa Fe. After 13 years at IAIA, Allan retired from full-time teaching. He wanted to spend all his time creating sculptures.

Later Artworks

"Legends Begin," a bronze sculpture at Allard Hall Law School in Vancouver.

Allan Houser's retirement in 1975 was the start of his most active period. He had more time and materials at his family home in Santa Fe. He perfected his unique art style. He combined Native American subjects with the abstract shapes and open spaces of modern art. He created famous pieces like Lead Singer, Abstract Crown Dancer, and The Mystic.

Allan also continued to make amazing sculptures of people and animals. One example is the life-sized bronze sculpture Chiricahua Apache Family. It was placed at the Fort Sill Apache Tribal Center in Apache, Oklahoma, in 1983. This sculpture honored his parents, Sam and Blossom. It also marked 70 years since his tribe's prisoners-of-war were released from Fort Sill.

Allan Houser's work was featured in a TV series about American Indian artists on Public Broadcasting System. Other artists in the series included R. C. Gorman and Helen Hardin.

In 1985, Allan's large bronze sculpture, Offering of the Sacred Pipe, was placed at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City. A year later, he made a bronze bust (head and shoulders sculpture) of Geronimo. This was to celebrate 100 years since the Chiricahua Apaches surrendered. A copy of this bust is now in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

In his last five years, Allan created many artworks and received numerous awards. In 1989, he finished As Long as the Waters Flow. This large bronze sculpture was made for the Oklahoma State Capitol building in Oklahoma City. In 1991, he gave a bronze sculpture called Sacred Rain Arrow to the Smithsonian Institution. He dedicated it to the American Indian people. In 1992, he became the first Native American to receive the National Medal of Arts. President George H. W. Bush gave him this award at the White House.

In 1993, the Allan Houser Art Park was dedicated at the Institute of American Indian Arts. In 1994, he returned to Washington, D.C., for the last time. He presented the U.S. government with a sculpture called May We Have Peace. He said it was a gift "To the people of the United States from the First Peoples." First Lady Hillary Clinton accepted the gift for the Vice President's residence.

Allan Houser's Drawings

Allan Houser was a very skilled draftsman, meaning he was excellent at drawing. You can see this in the huge number of drawings he left behind. These are kept at the Allan Houser Archive in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. There are over 6,000 drawings! This shows how much he created. Allan started all his artworks, including paintings and sculptures, with a drawing.

Allan Houser's Sculptures

While Allan Houser started his career with drawings and paintings, he became world-famous for his sculptures. He began with simple wood carvings in 1940. In 1949, he made his first large stone sculpture, Comrades in Mourning, at the Haskell Institute. It took some time before he had the resources to create the amazing bronze sculptures he is known for today.

Where to See Allan Houser's Art

Allan Houser's artwork is in collections all over the world. Here are some of the places where you can find his art:

Allan Houser's Legacy

Anna Gallegos Haozous, 2008

Phillip Haozous, sculptor and Allan Houser's son, 2008

Allan Houser passed away in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in August 1994, at the age of 80.

He was lucky to be an artist who was appreciated during his lifetime. He created art not just for himself, but also for many people who loved his work.

Even after his death, the honors continued. In 2002, 19 of his large artworks were displayed in Salt Lake City during the Olympics. From 2004 to 2005, the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. held a large show of 69 of his works. This was the first major exhibition for the new museum, and over three million people saw it.

Allan Houser taught art for most of his life. He passed on his knowledge, patience, and skills to many generations of Native American artists. Many of his students from the IAIA years are now teaching others.

After Allan's death in 1994, his family has continued his legacy. His two sons, Philip Haozous and Bob Haozous, are also successful sculptors. His grandson, Sam Atakra Haozous, is a photographer. The Allan Houser Foundation is a non-profit group that helps share Allan Houser's name and art. The family also runs an art gallery in Santa Fe and the Allan Houser Compound, which has a foundry (where sculptures are made) and a sculpture garden.

In 2018, Allan Houser was one of the first people inducted into the National Native American Hall of Fame.

In 2021, when Joe Biden became president, a sculpture by Allan Houser was moved to the Oval Office. This sculpture, created in 1990, shows a running horse and a Native male rider. It is now on a shelf in the president's office and was previously shown at the National Museum of the American Indian.

Exhibitions

Allan Houser's art continues to be shown in museums and galleries. His estate works with places around the world to display his art. His abstract and modern works were shown at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey (2008). His major works were also displayed at the Heard Museum and the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, in November 2009. In 2008, the Oklahoma History Center held a big exhibition called "Unconquered: Allan Houser and the Legacy of one Apache Family." This show looked at three generations of the Haozous/Houser family.

Houser's work was also part of "Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting" (2019–21). This was a large survey show at the National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center.

You can find major collections of Allan Houser's work in museums across the United States and around the world.