Original Painting of a Choctaw Gathering [SOLD]

Norma Howard (1958- ) is a Choctaw-Chickasaw painter from the small town of Stigler, Oklahoma.  Raised by a poor family in a small rural community, Howard began drawing and painting at a young age using whatever items she could find.  In a 1970 interview with Native Arts magazine, she recalled finding inspiration from an unlikely source: A View-Master.  “I’d look and see how pretty things were, and I decided that when I got older I’d paint like you’re looking through a View-Master—something that was real like you could touch it,” Howard said.  She never received any formal artistic training, instead developing her own unique style of watercolor painting. She uses short, cross-hatched strokes and works in multiple layers to give her images an uncommon sense of realism and depth.  Her paintings, most of which depict scenes of everyday Choctaw life, are featured in museums and prominent private collections around the country.

This large, untitled watercolor painting is truly remarkable.  It contains over twenty-five people and five horses, each of which is incredibly detailed.  In the center of the piece, a large group of boys is gathered for a game of Choctaw stickball.  In the foreground on each side of the central group is a gathering of spectators, who are conversing and cooking during a lull in the action.  The spectators’ faces, depicted in great detail, appear to be almost real. Their clothing, too, is amazingly realistic. The participants’ muscular bodies, though further away from the viewer than the gathered crowds, are also notably naturalistic.

Though her human subjects are amazing, many viewers will be most impressed by the landscape itself.  The field upon which the crowd has gathered is a marvel. Howard begin with a rich green, augmented with patches of reddish brown.  Later, in what must have been a very time-consuming process, she added thousands of vertical lines in a slightly lighter green color.  This addition, though undoubtedly laborious, adds a great deal of texture and realism to the field. Beyond the field, in the distance, are slight hills. Above all of this is a gorgeous stormy sky, which ranges from dark blue to bright white.  In the upper right corner, a bit of bright blue peeks through, suggesting that Howard’s lovingly depicted Choctaw community may not be forced to cancel their game.

The painting is signed and dated “1998.”  It is framed beautifully, with a series of four thin mattes that match various blues and grays of the painting’s sky.

Condition: this Original Painting of a Choctaw Gathering is in excellent original condition

Provenance: from the estate of Santa Fe collector and dealer Martha (Marti) Struever, who passed away in August 2017.