Description:
Watercolor on paper. Signed l.c.: Auchiah 24, Stamped u.r.: PLANCHE 14.
From: American Indian Painters, Vol. 1, p. 14: James Auchiah's ancestors were an interesting lot. His grandfather was the famous chief, Satanta, who gave the United States government a merry chase. He was considered one of the most daring warriors in the old Kiowa tribe. Another was Red Tipi, famous as a medicine man and an artist. His father was known as an athlete and soldier of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry. Auchiah is extraordinarily proud of his ancestors. He once courageously informed us "that it is no doubt this hereditary strain which made it possible for me to reach the top in the art world." But then, Auchiah is an Indian of the vast Plains! Auchiah was born in 1906. He early joined the first Kiowa artists under our supervision and attended informally the University of Oklahoma as a special student. Later he received some instruction in fresco painting. During the early 30s, his work was widely exhibited in the United States. His paintings have found homes in many private collections and his murals are in the Federal Building at Anadarko, Muskogee Post Office, the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, D.C., etc. During the war he was in the Coast Guard, stationed in Florida. He created a sensation in the local press by unravelling some mysterious inscriptions on the walls of the ancient Castello (fort) where his grandfather, Satanta, had been imprisoned for a while during the Indian wars of 1860-70. Auchiah deciphered his grandfather's pictographs on the walls. They proved to be nostalgic records of ceremonial and tribal life. In his work one often notices a certain element of sarcastic humor. It is subtle and refined, never blatant and vulgar. Sometimes he pictures more tender sentiments, even grief. "The Newlyweds" is in Auchiah's usual manner when in a jolly mood. The smug, slightly selfish demeanor of the bride and the open adoration, mixed with awe and pride of possession, of the swain are self-evident. Collection Oscar Brousse Jacobson)