Adele Collins
{{Short description|Chickasaw painter from Oklahoma and New York (1908–1006)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Adele Collins
| image =
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| native_name =
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| birth_name = Martha Adele Victor
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|01|24}}
| birth_place = Blanchard, Oklahoma
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1996|03|07|1908|01|24}}
| death_place = Blanchard, Oklahoma
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| citizenship = Chickasaw Nation, American
| education = St. Elizabeth's Indian Boarding School
| known_for = painting
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| style =
| movement = Abstract Expressionism
| spouse = Patrick Collins
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}}
Adele Collins (January 24, 1908 – March 7, 1996) was a 20th-century Native American painter.{{Cite web|title=Pueblo Record|url=https://collections.si.edu/search/detail/edanmdm:NMAI_278139?date.slider=1820s%252C1960s&q=%2522Native+American%2522+OR+Indian&fq=online_media_type%253A%2522Images%2522&fq=object_type%253A%2522Paintings%2522&record=1486&hlterm=%2526quot%253BNative%252BAmerican%2526quot%253B%252BOR%252BIndian&inline=true|last=|first=|date=|website=Smithsonian Collections|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=May 1, 2020}} She was born in Blanchard, Oklahoma and was an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation with Choctaw and Irish descent.Mary Jo Watson, "Oklahoma Indian Women and their Art" (PhD diss., University of Oklahoma, 1993), 301. Collins moved fluidly between representational and abstraction in her paintings, depicting an array of events and themes combining her Chickasaw and Choctaw heritage with contemporary European modernist approaches. Rennard Strickland, law professor and curator, placed Adele Collins in the first wave of post-World War II Native American painters.Rennard Strickland, "Where Have All the Blue Deer Gone? Depth and Diversity in Postwar Indian Painting," American Indian Art, Spring 1985, 36-45.
Life
Collins (née Victor) was born in Blanchard, Oklahoma.{{Cite web|title=Outstanding Art Show At Boulder City Library|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-sep-07-1972-1781016/|last=See|first=Dorothy E.|date=1972-09-07|website=Henderson Home News|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-05-29}} Her family moved between homes in Blanchard and Lindsay, Oklahoma, during the early years of Collins's life.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 304. Her father, Emmett L. Victor (1875–1932), was Chickasaw and Choctaw, and her mother, Lee Desmond (1880–1954), was Irish-American.{{Cite news|last=Craft|first=Dan|date=1991-05-03|title=Artist Adele Collins, 83, celebrates her Indian heritage|pages=17|work=The Pantagraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52105928/artist-adele-collins-83-celebrates/|access-date=2020-05-29}} Both of Desmond's parents were allotted land in McClain County, Oklahoma. Her father used the family lands as a rancher and a farmer and gave Adele and her three siblings a prosperous childhood.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 305. Born two years after the closing of the Dawes Commission Chickasaw Rolls, Adele did not receive an allotment for herself.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 305, footnote 132.
Collins's Native American name was Puccanubbi, meaning "baby." Although she was not formally taught the Choctaw and Chickasaw languages growing up, she began to learn them later in life through researching Chickasaw and Native American history. Her parents taught her their family's history and encouraged her to take pride in their Native heritage.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 306.
Once Collins became old enough for school, her family took up residence in Lindsay, Oklahoma, where she attended public school until 6th grade. She attended Mount Saint Mary's Academy for 7th and 8th grade. Her family's income declined, and Collins moved to St. Elizabeth's Indian Boarding School in Purcell, Oklahoma from 9th through 12th grade. She graduated from St. Elizabeth's in 1926.
The Great Depression hit Collins's family hard, as they lost their family land and money. In 1932, her father died, leaving the family to cope with emotional and financial losses. Collins moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where she attended beauty college and received a degree to become a hairstylist.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 308. She then moved to Texas and worked in a suburb outside of Dallas for a couple of years, attending classes in drama and ballet for a brief period.
While working in Dallas, she met Patrick Collins (1901–1977). They married in 1934 in Yuma, Arizona. They were married for 43 years, until his death. The first year of their marriage was spent between New York City and Patrick's hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Over the course of their marriage, they frequently traveled, spending winters in Cuba, Florida, Canada, and Mexico.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 309. In 1947, they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, for Patrick's work and lived there until 1974. The couple spent much of their time visiting the nearby pueblos and sites of historical and cultural significance. They also attended art shows in the area and traveled out to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend the Philbrook Indian Annual. Collins credits her husband with introducing her to fine art as they traveled during their marriage to see art shows, museums, and concerts in New York, Chicago, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and other places. In 1974, the two moved to Oklahoma City as Patrick's health declined until his passing in 1977.
Career
Collins began to pursue painting after she and her husband moved to Las Vegas. She started taking classes at the Art League in Las Vegas, enrolling in classes at the League for over eight years. There she took private lessons with Emalita Newton Terry, a 20th-century abstract and expressionist painter.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 310.
Through her mentorship with Emalita, Collins became interested in the emotional effects of abstraction in her work. She moved away from absolute realism, embracing painting that experimented with different levels of abstraction. Collins started painting landscapes through shape and form, with some of her works, such as [https://collections.si.edu/search/detail/edanmdm:NMAI_278139?date.slider=1820s%252C1960s&q=%2522Native+American%2522+OR+Indian&fq=online_media_type%253A%2522Images%2522&fq=object_type%253A%2522Paintings%2522&record=1486&hlterm=%2526quot%253BNative%252BAmerican%2526quot%253B%252BOR%252BIndian&inline=true Pueblo] (1962, National Museum of the American Indian) becoming almost wholly abstracted.
As Collins moved through her career, she embraced aspects of realism in her portraits and historical depictions of Native American tales and mythology.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 311. Collins credits Jeanne Snodgrass King, a curator at the Philbrook, with inspiring her to embrace her Native American heritage within her paintings. Her portraits predominantly feature figures from the Five Civilized Tribes along with other tribe members located in Western Oklahoma and the Southwest.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 313. Collins utilized heightened color in her depictions of ceremonial themes, hoop dancers, and Chickasaw and Choctaw myths.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 314 and 318. Collins adapted modern European and American painting styles to her representations of modern-day American and Oklahoma Native Americans.Watson, "Oklahoma Indian," 301.
Collins's work was exhibited in galleries across the United States, including the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona (1966);{{Cite news|date=1966-01-23|title=Each of her works different composition|pages=53|work=Arizona Republic|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52365132/each-of-her-works-different-composition/|access-date=2020-05-29}} the McClean County Arts Center in Bloomington, Illinois (1991); and the Jacobson House Native Art Center in Norman, Oklahoma.{{Cite news|last=Brandenburg|first=John|date=1995-07-02|title=Exhibition spans generations' styles|pages=89|work=The Daily Oklahoman|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52365645/exhibition-spans-generations-styles/|access-date=2020-05-29}}
Death
References
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Category:20th-century American painters
Category:20th-century American women artists
Category:20th-century Native American artists
Category:Chickasaw women artists
Category:Chickasaw people of Choctaw descent
Category:Native American painters
Category:Native American women painters
Category:People from Grady County, Oklahoma