Sitting Backward

Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Big Bow (1914-1988) was the grandson of the last hereditary chief of the Kiowa. As a teenager, Big Bow attended classes at the Univeristy of Oklahoma. He was one of several young Kiowa artists whose work was featured in exhibitions in Europe. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1939. During World War II, Big Bow designed the red and yellow Thunderbird insignia for Oklahoma’s famed 45th Infantry Division. His work is in the permanent collections of many institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian, the Gilcrease and Philbrook museums in Tulsa Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This piece was once in the Van Vechten-Lineberry Taos Art Museum. The artist wrote “36 WPA” on the right front corner of the piece.