AUGUST 27, 1898

“KIOWA FIVE” PAINTER QUED KOI (STEPHEN MOPOPE) BORN

Stephen was born on the Kiowa Reservation in Indian Territory. Mopope’s name meant “Painted Robe. Influenced in art by his great uncles, Haungooah (Silver Horn) and Oheltoint, and Sister Olivia at St. Patrick’s Mission School, Mopope attended the University of Oklahoma (OK) where with artists Spencer Asah, James Auchiah, Jack Hokeah, Lois Smoky and Monroe Tsatoke, he became one of the “Kiowa Six.” In 1928, they were featured in the First International Art Exhibition in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Stephen also was a flute player, an avid dancer, and farmer. He was one of 6 Indian artists commissioned to paint murals in the new U.S. Department of the Interior building in Washington, D.C. Mopope was the speaker at the National Folk Festival Conference in Chicago in 1957. His work is in, amongst other locations, the Gilcrease, Philbrook, OK City, and Heard Museums, and the Museum of the American Indian in New York. Mopope died on February 2, 1974, at Fort Cobb, OK.

Sources:

“Mopope, Steven,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.  Retrieved 10/24/2013, Mopope, Steven | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (okhistory.org)

Wikipedia

Photo: Carol M. Highsmith (1946 -  ), 2011. Photo of mural, a ceremonial shield with a bull's head, by Stephen Mopope, at the Department of Interior, Washington, D.C.  Public Domain