Terry Saul

{{Short description|Choctaw/Chickasaw artist and educator (1921–1976)}}

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix = Chief

| name = Terry Saul

| other_names = Tabaksi, C. Terry Saul

| birth_name = Carl Terry Saul

| birth_date = April 2, 1921

| birth_place = Sardis, Oklahoma, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|05||1921||}}

| death_place = Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S.

| citizenship = Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, American

| education = Bacone College,
University of Oklahoma,
Art Students League of New York

}}

Chief Carl Terry Saul (1921–1976) also known as C. Terry Saul and Tabaksi, was a Choctaw Nation/Chickasaw illustrator, painter, muralist, commercial artist, and educator.{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HavpAAAAMAAJ |title=Visions and Voices: Native American Painting from the Philbrook Museum of Art |date=1996 |publisher=Philbrook Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-86659-013-6 |language=en|pages=229–230}}{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Blue |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EsXZDwAAQBAJ |title=Indian Tribes of Oklahoma: A Guide |date=2020-09-03 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-6762-6 |pages=131 |language=en}} He was a leader of the Choctaw/Chickasaw tribe. He served as Director of the art program at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, from 1970 until 1976.{{Cite book |last1=Lawson |first1=Russell M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ou6yDwAAQBAJ |title=Race and Ethnicity in America: From Pre-contact to the Present [4 volumes] |last2=Lawson |first2=Benjamin A. |date=2019-10-11 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-5097-4 |pages=18 |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=1974-11-10 |title=Clipped From The Daily Oklahoman |pages=255 |work=The Daily Oklahoman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90686963/the-daily-oklahoman/ |access-date=2022-10-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Biography

Saul was a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.{{cite web|url=https://oaklandside.org/2024/08/28/obituary-william-terry-saul-oakland/ |title=Remembering William Terry Saul, Native elder, journalist and cosmically cool musician |publisher=The Oaklandside |accessdate=2024-10-22}} He attended Bacone College, where he studied under Acee Blue Eagle,{{Cite book |last=Neuman |first=Lisa K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vpDVDwAAQBAJ |title=Indian Play: Indigenous Identities at Bacone College |date=2020-03-09 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-1-4962-0932-0 |pages=204 |language=en}} and Woody Crumbo. His classmates at Bacone College included Walter Richard “Dick” West Sr. and Oscar Howe, all of which started the early process of departing for traditional Native art and painting-styles, and moving towards Surrealism and engaging in modernist aesthetics.{{Cite journal |last=White |first=Mark A. |date=2013 |editor-last=Mesch |editor-first=Claudia |title=A Modernist Moment: Native Art and Surrealism at the University of Oklahoma |url=https://arthist.net/archive/5934 |journal=Journal of Surrealism and the Americas |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=52–70}}

He served in the United States Army during World War II.{{Cite web |title=Terry Saul - Biography |url=https://www.askart.com/artist/Terry_Saul/102759/Terry_Saul.aspx |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=AskArt.com}} After the war, Saul continued his studies at University of Oklahoma, Norman (OU), where he received a BFA degree (1948) and MFA degree (1949); and at the Art Students League of New York, from 1951 to 1952. Saul was the first Native American student to receive a MFA degree from the University of Oklahoma.{{Cite news |last=Sheets |first=Nan |date=1958-04-13 |title=33 Artists, Prize-Winners All: Indian Works Now on Display |pages=56 |work=The Daily Oklahoman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45604325/oscar-howe-okc-exhibit-1958/ |access-date=2022-10-10}}

In 1960, he lived in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and in addition to painting, Saul worked at the Phillips Petroleum Company.{{Cite news |date=1960-12-11 |title=Saul Picture Goes to Wash. |pages=21 |work=Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111068500/saul-picture-goes-to-wash/ |access-date=2022-10-10 |via=Newspapers.com}} He is known for his watercolor paintings, and casein paintings depicting Plains Tribes heritage and ceremonies.{{Cite web |date=June 13, 1965 |title=Terry Saul Works in Linear Fashion |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/116652547/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Arizona Republic |page=70 |language=en |issn=0892-8711}} He later returned to teach at Bacone College, where he served as the Director of the art program from 1970 to 1976. One of his students was Joan Brown.{{Cite book |last=Broder |first=Patricia Janis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qbd_AQAAQBAJ |title=Earth Songs, Moon Dreams: Paintings by American Indian Women |date=2013-12-10 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4668-5972-2 |pages=261 |language=en}}

His artwork is in museum collections, including the Gilcrease Museum,{{Cite web |title=C. Terry Saul |url=https://collections.gilcrease.org/creator/c-terry-saul |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Gilcrease Museum |language=en}} Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art,{{Cite web |title=Chief Terry Saul |url=http://www.ou.edu/fjjma/collections0/featured-collections/RennardStricklandCollection/chief-terry-saul.html |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=OU.edu |language=en-US}} and the Philbrook Museum of Art.{{Cite web |title=Choctaw Sick Dance, Terry Saul (Chief Terry Saul; Tobaksi, Ember of Fire or the Coal), Choctaw, Watercolor |url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/exhibition/art-gallery/index/images/ob1790.html |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Native Voices}}

Publications

{{Cite book |last1=Grerory |first1=Jack |title=Choctaw Spirit Tales |last2=Strickland |first2=Rennard |publisher=Hoffman Printing Company |others=Chief Terry Saul (illustrations), Indian Heritage Association |year=1972 |edition=1st |location=Muskogee, OK}}