PrintUnconquered: Oklahoma museum examines Allan Houser's legacy
Allan Houser redefined Native American art with his unique approach to abstract modernism, casting traditional images and forms in distinctly contemporary ways. His life and legacy are now being honored in three major exhibitions from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Phoenix, Arizona. An Oklahoma native himself, Houser was the first member of the Chiricahua Apache tribe to be born out of imprisonment after Geronimo’s surrender. First a nationally renowned painter in the Studio Style he learned in Santa Fe, Houser pursued sculpting until his death in 1994, and his memorable abstract Native figures still stand across the country, from the Oklahoma State Capitol building to the United Nations headquarters to the National Portrait Gallery.
EnlargeThe exhibit Unconquered: Allan Houser and the Legacy of One Apache Family is currently showing at the Gilcrease Museum of the Americas in Tulsa through March 21. Using artifacts, film, and works of art, including sculptural works by Houser’s sons Bob and Phillip Haozous (Haozous was Houser’s birth name), this exhibit traces the history of the Houser family and illustrates the differences in works by father and sons. In Phoenix, the Desert Botanical Garden and the Heard Museum have partnered to allow visitors to experience Houser’s work in two distinct settings with their dual exhibit Allan Houser: Tradition to Abstraction. At the botanical garden, 18 life-size and monumental works will be displayed through May 31 amid one of the world’s finest collections of desert plants, while the Heard Museum is presenting a comprehensive retrospective of Houser’s art that features watercolors, paintings, book illustrations, and sculptures through August 22.
GALLERIES: Allan Houser Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 505.982.4705, www.allanhouser.com.
EXHIBITS: Unconquered: Allan Houser and the Legacy of One Apache Family, Gilcrease Museum of the Americas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 918.596.2700, www.gilcrease.org.
Allan Houser: Tradition to Abstraction, Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, 480.941.1225, www.dbg.org; Heard Museum, Phoenix, 602.252.8848, www.heard.org.
