JULY 8, 1941

MUSCOGEE-SEMINOLE PAINTER JERO8E RICHARD TIGER BORN

Born in Oklahoma, Tiger dropped out of high school at age 16 and joined the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1958 to 1960.  His artistic style was to combine “spiritual vision, humane understanding, and technical virtuosity” with traditional subject matter and composition.  Compared to Rembrandt and Francisco Goya due to his ability to draw an object or person after a short glance, he worked in oil, watercolor, tempera, casein, pencil, and pen and ink.  His art can be found throughout Oklahoma, at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, the Philbrook and Gilcrease Museums in Tulsa, the OSU Museum of Art in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and the Woolaroc Museum near Bartlesville.  His works also can be found at the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, and the Museum of the American Indian and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in Washington, DC.  Unfortunately, he died from a handgun accident on August 13, 1967, at age 26.  

Source:  David C. Hunt, “Tiger, Jerome Richard (1941-1967),” Oklahoma Historical Society.  Retrieved 7/6/2019, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=TI001
Photo:  Daily Oklahoman, 3/16/1969.  Newspaper caption: "The late Jerome Tiger, Indian Artist, is represented in a new show opening this weekend at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center."  Courtesy of Oklahoma Historical Society.