signed
Provenance: This painting was purchased by the consignor directly from the artist, with the assistance of Sapp’s interpreter Smith Atimoyoo, on March 10, 1967, at The Battleford Indian and Metis Friendship Centre (North Battleford, SK) . It has been in the same collection since.
Note: This rare, early work is signed “Allan Sapp”, as Sapp’s works were typically signed prior to 1968.
In 1966, Allen Sapp entered the North Battleford clinic of Dr. Allan Gonor hoping to sell him a painting. Gonor, who often saw the artist walking along the streets of North Battleford with his bundle of paintings, had purchased from him before. This time, he encouraged Sapp to paint what he knew, to paint him a picture of his reservation, giving him some money for supplies. Sapp returned the next day with the painting “Red Pheasant Farmyard”. A long-term partnership and friendship soon blossomed. Dr. Gonor arranged for Sapp to meet weekly with Wynona Mulcaster, then art professor at the University of Saskatchewan, driving Sapp to Saskatoon every Sunday during the winter of 1967 to meet with his new advisor. This was a pivotal, formative year in the artist’s development and career. In 1968, Sapp had his first professional exhibits – at a gallery in Montreal, and on the grounds of Mulcaster’s home. An exhibition at the Mendel Art Gallery followed in 1969, and was viewed by 13,000 people; within a few years, Sapp’s work was being exhibited in New York.
Allen Sapp’s grandmother (Nokum) is a favourite subject of the artist, whether she is feeding the chickens, preparing a hide, or making bannok (as in this work). In the Cree culture, it is traditional for grandparents to take a strong role in raising their grandchildren, though Sapp’s grandparents, Albert and Maggie Soonias, were even more involved due to his mother’s poor health. They continued to raise Allen after her death. It is his grandmother who had the most profound influence on him. She was also the first to encourage the budding artist, “Keep on drawing – some day you will be very famous”. Sapp said of his grandmother: “I know where I came from and for many years I have known where I am going. But this wasn’t just a stroke of luck – it began with the love and support of my family and my beloved grandmother, my Nokum.” Maggie Soonias passed away in 1959, well before her likeness appeared in vivid scenes such as this. Sapp then explained, “When I started to paint life as I remembered it on the reserve, I didn’t need any pictures to remind me. It was as if my mind was a camera and would place before me pictures of places and events of many years ago while growing up on the Red Pheasant Reserve.”
*Excerpts from “I Heard the Drums” (Sapp; Stoddart Publishing Co. Ltd., 1996).
*Additional references from “A Cree Life, The Art of Allen Sapp” (Warner/Bradshaw; J. J. Douglas Ltd., 1977).
