Classic Oklahoma
From the Kiowa Five to Jerome Tiger to Momaday, the collection of Oklahoma City University President Robert H. Henry, a former federal justice, favors the masterpieces and master artists native to his state.
Painting by Mirac Creepingbear (Kiowa/Pawnee/Araphao), acrylic on canvas, 20" x 30"
By M.J. Alexander
In a painting by Jerome Tiger (Creek/Seminole), a buffalo furiously charges directly toward a hunter, despite having three arrows deeply embedded into its body. The hunter steadfastly stands his ground and draws the last arrow from the quiver strapped to his back, as the distraught buffalo thunders full-speed toward him.
On the back of the work, “The Last Arrow Tells All” is inscribed by the artist, alluding to the perilous fate of either the valiant hunter, who has one last chance at a kill shot, or the charging buffalo, which desperately but gallantly challenges death.
The dramatic work is one of former federal justice, lawyer and now Oklahoma City University President Robert H. Henry’s favorite paintings. It resides among the many judiciously selected Native American, European, Western and Oklahoman art pieces at the spacious home on campus where Henry lives with his dentist wife, Dr. Jan Ralls Henry. The Native American paintings, sculpture and pottery, however, represent the heart of Henry’s collected works, and together they provide a historical aesthetic journey spanning the entire 20th century with works on view by many of Native America’s and Oklahoma’s master artists, including Tiger.
“Tiger is like the Frédéric Chopin of Native art,” Henry says. “When you hear a musical phrase by Chopin, you instantly know it is Chopin. When you see a Tiger painting, you immediately know that it is by Tiger.”
In Henry’s home, the Tiger painting is part of what he calls his “trifecta,” a trio of works above his fireplace that also includes a supremely preserved painting of a warrior dancing in a headdress by Carl Sweezy (Arapaho, 1881-1953) and a Stephen Mopope (Kiowa) scene with a flute player standing outside a tipi, perhaps serenading a prospective wife with a courtship song. Other pieces of Henry’s, however, have appeared elsewhere on loan, and some even have been given away when Henry feels moved to part with a work of art.
