Originally posted in BibliOdyssey:

Pochoir prints of ledger drawings by the Kiowa Five, 1929


Eagle Dance by Stephen Mopope
All images © the Estate of the respective artist

Pochoir Prints of Ledger Drawings by the Kiowa Five, 1929 from the National Anthropological Archives, hosted by the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). [click on 'Pochoir prints of ledger drawings by the Kiowa Five, 1929.' for a complete illustrated inventory of the twenty-four prints.]

From the SIRIS catalog entry:

The Kiowa Five were a group of painters who earned national and international acclaim during the early twentieth century. The group actually consisted of six individuals, Spencer Asah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Monroe Tsatoke, Lois Smoky, and James Auchiah. A number of the artists attended St. Patrick’s Mission School in Anadarko, Oklahoma, where they received art instruction from Sister Olivia Taylor. Susan Peters, a government field matron, also took an interest in the young artists' work. She arranged for an artist from Chickasha, Mrs. Willie Baze Lane, to provide art lessons. Eventually Ms. Peters persuaded Dr. Oscar Jacobson, head of the school of art at the University of Oklahoma, to provide additional training for the artists. In 1926, Asah, Hokeah, Tsatoke, and Mopope arrived at the University. The artists were not officially enrolled, but they received special instruction from Jacobson and Dr. Edith Mahier, another professor in the school of art. In January 1927, Lois Smokey, a young Kiowa woman, arrived to study with the other artists. In spring, the artists were compelled to return home to attend to agricultral pursuits. They returned in the fall, accompanied by James Auchiah, the sixth and final student. Shortly thereafter, Lois Smokey withdrew from the program and returned home. Dr. Oscar Jacobson arranged for the Kiowa artists’ paintings to be exhibited in 1928 at the First International Art Exposition in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1929, Kiowa Art, a portfolio of the artists' paintings was published in France.

For additional information on these artists, see:
Jeanne O. Snodgrass, American Indian Painters - A Biographical Directory. Museum of the American Indian Heye Foundation, 1968.
Patrick D. Lester, The biographical directory of Native American painters. SIR Publications, 1995.
St. James guide to native North American artists, with a preface by Rick Hill; and an introduction by W. Jackson Rushing; editor, Roger Matuz. St. James Press, c1998.
John Anson Warner, “Native American Painting in Oklahoma: Continuity and Change.” The Journal of Intercultural Studies, 23: 14-129, 1996.