Acee Blue Eagle (1907 - 1959)
Creek-Pawnee artist and teacher Acee Blue Eagle was born Alex McIntosh near Anadarko on August 17, 1909. He was known by several names during his childhood. A nickname, "Ah-Say" became "Acee" when he entered school. Professionally, he called himself Blue Eagle, a traditional family surname. Following three years of military service during World War II, Blue Eagle joined the art staff of Oklahoma State University Technological School in Okmulgee. He was in residence there until his death. Up until the 1930s, the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs banned teaching traditional art in designated Indian boarding schools. This restriction was lifted during the Great Depression, when it was suggested that the arts could be a source of income for Native Americans. The “Indian Arts and Crafts Act” of 1935 created a protected category of American Indian art. It is important to distinguish that the governmental concern, in this case, was financial rather than cultural. Native people were encouraged to artistically depict and sell representations of cultural lifeways at the same time they were being forced to assimilate to American culture. An article in American Indian Art Magazine credits Blue Eagle as being one of the key artists who spearheaded the American Indian fine arts movement, stating that he represents “the best of the first generation of painters from an Oklahoma Creek population… Yet these men lived modest lives… originally selling their painting for two-figure sums.” The works that they produced in the 1930s are even more valuable today, selling at auctions in New York and Santa Fe “for 200 to 300-times their original sale prices.” A recipient of numerous awards, Blue Eagle exhibited widely and fulfilled many public commissions, painting murals for several Oklahoma colleges, libraries, and federal buildings. He was named "Outstanding Indian in the United States" in ceremonies at Anardarko in 1958. The Oklahoma Legislature awarded him posthumous honors for services to the state in 1959. A building on the campus of what is now Haskell Indian Nations University is named for him.
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