Kiowa Gouache Painting By Acee Blue Eagle

ca. 1930 - 1935

9.375" H x 5.375" W - Image, 14.8125" H x 11.8125" W - Frame

Hand Painted of an Indian Woman Holding a Large Flat Bowl Dressed in a Leather Dress with Decorations and Glass Seed Beads with her Hair in Two Wrapped Pig Tails

In Very Good Condition

Acee Blue Eagle, a prominent Kiowa artist known for his contributions to Native American art, painted works in the distinctive Kiowa flat style, characterized by sharp contours, flat areas of color, and the absence of backgrounds.  Born Alex C. McIntosh in 1907 near Anadarko, Oklahoma, he was a key figure in the Kiowa Six, a group of artists who helped define 20th-century Native American painting.  His works often depicted traditional Kiowa themes such as ceremonial dances, spiritual figures, and cultural narratives, blending traditional imagery with contemporary stylization. 

One notable painting attributed to him is Woman Making Baskets, part of a collection of New Deal-era easel paintings. He also created murals for public buildings, including a famous mural on the U.S.S.  Oklahoma, and painted for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the 1930s.  His art was exhibited widely, including at the Rockefeller Center and the Museum of Modern Art, and he was recognized as the "Outstanding Indian in the United States" in 1958. 

Blue Eagle's legacy extends beyond painting—he was a lecturer, teacher, television host, and author, using his platform to share Native American culture. He died in 1959, but his works remain in major collections, including the Gilcrease Museum, Denver Art Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Acee Blue Eagle's Kiowa flat style was inspired by a blend of Plains hide painting, ledger art traditions, and the broader Flatstyle movement associated with the Kiowa Six and Bacone School.  Although Blue Eagle was of Creek and Pawnee heritage—not Kiowa—he adopted and adapted the flat style through exposure to Kiowa artistic influences, particularly during his studies at Bacone Indian College and the University of Oklahoma under Oscar B. Jacobson, a key mentor to Native artists. 

His work reflects bold outlines, solid color fields, minimal backgrounds, and narrative depictions of Native life, drawing from oral traditions, ceremonial dances, and cultural symbolism.  While not rooted in Kiowa heritage himself, Blue Eagle was influenced by the Pan-Indian artistic environment of early 20th-century Oklahoma, where the flat style emerged as a modern expression of Indigenous identity, bridging traditional forms like ledger art with contemporary media and techniques. 
Oscar B. Jacobson played a pivotal role in Acee Blue Eagle's artistic development by serving as his mentor and formal instructor at the University of Oklahoma, where Blue Eagle earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1932.  Jacobson, director of the School of Art, recognized Blue Eagle’s talent and provided him with technical training in oil, watercolor, and tempera, helping him transition from self-taught sketches to professional artistry.  He encouraged Blue Eagle to draw from his Creek and Pawnee heritage, promoting a style that blended Native themes with modern techniques. 

Jacobson was instrumental in advancing the careers of many Native artists, most notably the Kiowa Six, and extended the same support to Blue Eagle by facilitating exhibitions and national exposure.  His mentorship solidified Blue Eagle’s identity as a serious Native artist and helped shape the evolution of the Bacone flat style, which Blue Eagle later helped teach and promote as director of Bacone College’s art department.