Ernest Spybuck is famous for his artwork that offered a glimpse into Indigenous ways of being in Oklahoma in the early 1900s. His self-taught artistry now costs thousands and is hard to come by, making this recent acquisition from his tribal nation, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, significant.
Elizabeth Ruiz is the tribe’s historic preservation director and an enrolled member of the Sac & Fox Nation and an Absentee Shawnee descendant. She said the mixed-media piece the Absentee Shawnee Tribe acquired is composed of both drawing and painting and was created by the artist around 1910 or 1920.
“So the picture is an intertribal dance,” Ruiz said. “We’re not exactly sure if it’s a specific tribe … But it’s a depiction of the dance, and there are people around the dance, and there are some teepees and some other dwellings in the back. It’s a very beautiful piece.”…