Allan Houser

(New Mexico/ California, 1914-1994)

Chant of the Rio Grande, 1987

Patinated bronze

29" x 30" x 15"

Edition of 12 (numbered 12/ 12)

Chant of the Rio Grande depicts three Apache singers chanting in unison to the beat of their drums. Houser's modernist style reverently represents the figures lost in song, their eyes closed, mouths wide, hands falling to the next drum beat. The substantial scale of the sculpture and the skillful portrayal of the countenance give these singers' voices a resounding weight that the viewer can't help but hear.

Allan Houser was a Chiricahua Apache artist, born Allan Capron Haozous. His parents were among those forcibly removed from their homes which bordered along the Rio Grande, incarcerated following Geronimo's raids (Houser's father was later Geronimo's translator), eventually relocated to Oklahoma. Houser moved from Oklahoma to Santa Fe in 1934 to pursue artistic studies with Dorothy Dunn. He began his career as an artist in 1939, and he quickly received several promising commissions, but World War II altered his professional opportunities, and he moved with his family to Los Angeles for work.

Houser was moved by the modernist sculptors he encountered in California, artists including Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, Constantin Brancusi, and Barbara Hepworth inspiring a growth in Houser's own style. Houser's modernist sensibilities joined with his cultural heritage and experience to create works wholly unique within the world of contemporary art. This style had fully matured by the late 1940s, when he sculpted one of his masterpieces Comrade in Mourning, commissioned by the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, KS. Though his themes and subjects remained traditional throughout his life, his desire was for his work to be recognized and accepted among his contemporary peers, free from the boundaries of the Indian Art designation.

Today, Houser's art can be found in museums and collections around the world, including the National Portrait Gallery, the British Royal Collection, and the Japanese Royal Collection. Upon taking office, President Biden selected his sculpture Swift Messenger to decorate the Oval Office. In 2018, Houser was one of 12 inaugural inductees to the new National Native American Hall of Fame. 

Good condition. Scattered powdery buildup from superficial oxidation (most of which is caught in the grooves of each figure's textured vest), which may be cleaned with some effort. Some variations to the original patina, including drips on the front of the center drum.