Acee Blue Eagle Painting, ca. 1950
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GUEST:
They came from my husband's family, and the painting is by Acee Blue Eagle, and we've always called it "The Little Blue Deer." When they broke up their household, we inherited this. And then I bought the book "Echogee," which we figure is the story about this deer. And I remember seeing Acee Blue Eagle on television. He sat out in front of a teepee, and he told stories.
APPRAISER:
Where were you when you saw him on TV?
GUEST:
I was in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and we were the first ones in the neighborhood to have a TV. And it was five inches big.
APPRAISER:
Really?
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
What did he talk about?
GUEST:
He told stories. He told Native American stories.
APPRAISER:
Did he talk about "Echogee"?
GUEST:
I don't remember, it's been so long ago.
APPRAISER:
Acee was a prominent artist in Oklahoma. His name was Alex McIntosh. And McIntosh is a very old, important Creek-Scottish name. He was Muscogee Creek, Pawnee, and Wichita, so he was a blend of three different tribes. But his primary identification was Muscogee Creek. His Creek name was Chebon Ahbulah, which means "Laughing Boy"-- chebon is "boy." But he went by Acee Blue Eagle his whole life as an artist. And he married a woman from Bali who was a Balinese dancer, so sometimes you'll find paintings of Balinese dancers that he did. He represented the State Department at events, and was widely collected. He realized at some point that he had a market bigger than just doing paintings. His paintings were always fairly expensive and fairly desirable, because of his relationship with the government, and also because of his skill. And he eventually became a professor of art at Bacone Indian School in Muskogee, Oklahoma. And this is sort of Little Blue Deer grown up. And it's tempera and watercolor on paper. It's very typical of him. The frame even looks like it's from the time period. And he died in 1959, and I expect this was painted sometime in the late '40s, early '50s. We've been talking about Little Blue Deer or Echogee. This is the book that he put out called "Echogee." And it's the story of this little blue deer who was a fawn, and about his encounters with other animals. And I'm sure you've read it 100 times.
GUEST:
Yes, and I've told it.
APPRAISER:
Did you use it in classes, or...?
GUEST:
Yes, I would bring the painting in and show my students, and I would tell them the story of Echogee the little blue deer.
APPRAISER:
The book "Echogee the Little Blue Deer" was written and first printed in 1932. And Acee, he was sort of one of the first great pan-Indian personalities. He wasn't just Creek, he wasn't just Pawnee, he was Acee. And everybody knew him. He had a great personality, was known as a great teacher. He continued to paint great individual works. The large ones bring tremendous amounts of money. If this painting came up for sale at an auction, I think it would easily bring $2,500 to $3,000 without any problem.
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