Blackbear Bosin

At 59 years old, Blackbear Bosin physical status not available right now. We will update Blackbear Bosin's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

After returning to Wichita in 1946, Bosin continued to paint. In the same year, he entered the Philbrook Art Center's first Indian Artists Annual, where he won an honorable mention for Green Corn Dance. After his success at the Philbrook, Bosin continued to enter art competitions there and at other galleries, art centers, and museums. Between 1947 and 1948, his work was included in exhibitions at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and the Detroit Institute of Arts. In 1951, Bosin entered an Indian art competition held by the Denver Museum of Art, where he was awarded the Purchase Prize.

Bosin's career as an artist began to take off in the early 1950s, beginning with the Philbrook’s Indian Art Annual in 1952 where he was awarded first prize for Death Bird. He secured first place again the next year with Prairie Fire, the piece that brought him international recognition. The acclaimed painting was purchased by the Philbrook and later featured in the May 1955 issue of National Geographic.

While working at Boeing, Bosin met Nola Simmonds, an art teacher who would later become his wife. The two were married in 1953, after which they moved in together and Bosin became stepfather to David, Simmonds only child. Bosin's daughters lived with the family in Wichita until they both graduated high school, and one of his sons, Francis Jr., lived with them up until the sixth grade.

In 1955, Wind Spirit, the companion piece to Prairie Fire, was shown at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco and then won the Purchase Prize at the Philbrook's Indian Annual. After the competition, the Philbrook invited Bosin to participate in a one-man exhibition.

Bosin opened the Great Plains Studio in 1959 to expand his studio space and display his art alongside the works of other Indigenous artists. The same year, he was commissioned by the Hotel Broadview in downtown Wichita to design a mosaic mural for the Crystal Ballroom. Constructed entirely from semi-opaque glass chips and measuring an incredible 1,500 square feet, The Advance of Civilization in Kansas is the largest continuous mural in Kansas.

His paintings continued to be awarded by art institutions. In 1960, Bosin entered the All-Indian Show in New York, where he won both the First and Grand Prize. The following year he travelled to Kreuzlingin, Switzerland, to receive honors after he was elected Fellow of the International Institution of Arts and Letters. In the same year, two of his former entries in the Philbrook's Indian Artist Annual were purchased by the Arts and Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior. In 1963, the Philbrook hosted another one-man show of Bosin's work and four of his pieces were included in the Heard Museum's Gallery of Indian Art's inaugural exhibition.

Two years later, in 1965, Bosin proceeded to win first place and the Grand Prize at the Philbrook's Indian Artists Annual. The same year, the Wichita Art Museum hosted a showing of 24 of Bosin's works. The museum later commissioned him to do a painting titled, Wichita, My Son, which represents the relationship between Wichita and the local Indigenous communities. Bosin also participated in an exhibition at the Whitney Gallery of Western Art at the Buffalo Bill Cody complex in Cody, Wyoming.

Bosin was the only Native American artist to participate in the 1965 White House Festival of the Arts, where Prairie Fire was displayed. The beaded bowtie and cummerbund he wore were made by his mother and attracted the attention of Lady Bird Johnson, who requested that Bosin be moved to sit at her table.

The Department of the Interior commissioned a series of paintings from Bosin, known as the Kiowa Series, that was devoted to displaying the historical and religious heritage of the Kiowa. The series consisted of three works, Of the Owls Telling, Taime Man, and The Ten Grandmothers. Bosin completed the first two paintings between 1965 and 1966, but the final work was not finished until 1973 and the series was not publicly displayed until 1976. He was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior in 1966.

In 1967, Bosin was awarded the Victory Trophy at the 22nd Indian Annual hosted by the Philbrook. After receiving this award, he made the decision to step back from entering art competitions altogether because he believed it was time for younger artists to gain recognition.

Source

• Certificate of Merit, the Philbrook Indian Art Annual, 1946
• Purchase Prize, the Denver Museum of Art Indian Art Competition, 1951
• First Prize, the Philbrook Indian Art Annual, 1952
• Grand Prize, the Philbrook Indian Art Annual, 1953
• Purchase Prize, the Philbrook Indian Art Annual, 1955
• Grand and First Prize, the All-Indian Show, 1960
• Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters, Kreuzlingin, Switzerland, 1961
• Grand Prize and First Prize, the Philbrook Indian Art Annual, 1965
• Certificate of Appreciation, the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, 1966
• Victory Trophy, the Philbrook American Indian Artists Exhibition, 1967
• Award for Traditional Indian Painting, the American Indian National Achievement Awards, 1976
• Distinguished Service Award, the State of Kansas, 1977
• Governor's Artist, Governor Robert F. Bennett of Kansas, 1977