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The Kiowa Five were a group of painters who earned national and international acclaim during the early twentieth century. Kiowa Field Matron Susie Peters gave Asah and other Kiowa youths art lessons while attending St. Patrick's Mission School near Anadarko and attended special art classes with other Kiowas at the University of Oklahoma during the late 1920s under the tutelage of professors Edith Mahier and Oscar Jacobson, director of the School of Art. Spencer Asah is buried at Cache Creek Cemetery, Caddo County, Oklahoma, USA Spencer Asah "Lallo," "Little Boy" was born January 15, 1906 in Carnegie, Oklahoma to James Asah, aka. James Ai-Site, aka. James Asa [English last name] "Tear It up" and Nellie Hait-Shan. Spencer died May 5, 1954. Spencer Asah married a, Comanche woman, Ida Attocknie and had 3 children: Daughters, Ola Mae, Ida L. and son, Kay Asah. Spencer Asah attended the St. Patrick's Mission School in Anadarko, Oklahoma where he received his first art instruction from Sister Olivia Taylor, a Choctaw Nun. He entered into an art program at the University of Oklahoma. Spencer Asah was an active member in the Powwow Circuit. He was a singer and dancer. He was a painter and was in the Kiowa six also known as Kiowa five. His Kiowa artwork was exhibited in museums and he is known for his paintings . His paintings displayed Kiowa culture. Spencer's father was a Buffalo Medicine Man.  Source: Oklahoma Historical Society The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture Asah, Spencer [ca. 1905-1954] Born near Carnegie, Oklahoma, circa 1905, Spencer Asah [Lallo, Little Boy] was a grandson of a buffalo medicine man. He grew up in the western Oklahoma environment filled with Kiowa ritual and traditional history. He was married to a Comanche, Ida, and had three children, Ola Mae, Ida L. and Kay, a son killed in 1953. One of the famous early- twentieth century Indian painters from Oklahoma, he used themes and images to present the culture of Kiowa dancers and images of Kiowa life. According to Oscar Jacobson, his mentor his role as a descendant of distinguished medicine people was as custodian to important ceremonial items, including a Kiowa calendar. Asah attended St. Patrick's Indian Mission School near Andarko, Oklahoma, where he showed talent as an artist and a love of traditional Kiowa dancing. With four other artists, he later attended painting classes at the University of Oklahoma under the direction of Edith Mayer and Oscar Jacobson. In addition to images of single figures of brilliantly colored dancers, Asah participated in painting murals in 1929 in the Memorial Chapel for Father Isidore Rocklin at St. Patrick's Mission. Asah's flat, two dimensional work many times presents a profile view of a full figure. His line drawings and paintings were meticulous and exact replications of the feather work and regalia appropriate for the occasion. His dancers are animated and show movement and are accentuated with black and white areas that enhance the forms and colors of the dancers. Murals by Asah are found at the Oklahoma Supreme Court Building [formerly the Oklahoma Historical Society Building] in Oklahoma City, at the Federal Building at Anadarko, Oklahoma, and at Fort Sill Indian School. Asah and the four other Kiowa artists were among the first indians in Oklahoma to receive international accotades for their artistic productions. His work is represented in the Gilcroase Museum, the Philbrok Museum of Art, the museum of the American Indian in New York, and other venues. Asah died in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1954. |
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