Adele Collins

Adele Collins (January 24, 1908 – March 7, 1996) was a 20th-century Native American painter. She was born in Blanchard, Oklahoma and was an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation with Choctaw and Irish descent. Collins moved fluidly between representational and abstraction in her paintings, depicting an array of events and themes combining her Chickasaw and Choctaw heritage with contemporary European modernist approaches. Rennard Strickland, law professor and curator, placed Adele Collins in the first wave of post-World War II Native American painters.

Life Collins (née Victor) was born in Blanchard, Oklahoma. Her father, Emmett L. Victor (1875–1932), was Chickasaw and Choctaw, and her mother, Lee Desmond (1880–1954), was Irish-American. Both of Desmond's parents were allotted land in McClain County, Oklahoma. Born two years after the closing of the Dawes Commission Chickasaw Rolls, Adele did not receive an allotment for herself.

Collins's Native American name was Puccanubbi, meaning "baby."

Once Collins became old enough for school, her family took up residence in Lindsay, Oklahoma, where she attended public school until 6th grade. She attended Mount Saint Mary's Academy for 7th and 8th grade. Her family's income declined, and Collins moved to St. Elizabeth's Indian Boarding School in Purcell, Oklahoma from 9th through 12th grade. She graduated from St. Elizabeth's in 1926.

The Great Depression hit Collins's family hard, as they lost their family land and money. In 1932, her father died, leaving the family to cope with emotional and financial losses. Collins moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where she attended beauty college and received a degree to become a hairstylist. She then moved to Texas and worked in a suburb outside of Dallas for a couple of years, attending classes in drama and ballet for a brief period.

While working in Dallas, she met Patrick Collins (1901–1977). They married in 1934 in Yuma, Arizona. In 1947, they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, for Patrick's work and lived there until 1974. The couple spent much of their time visiting the nearby pueblos and sites of historical and cultural significance. They also attended art shows in the area and traveled out to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend the Philbrook Indian Annual.

Through her mentorship with Emalita, Collins became interested in the emotional effects of abstraction in her work. Collins credits Jeanne Snodgrass King, a curator at the Philbrook, with inspiring her to embrace her Native American heritage within her paintings. Collins utilized heightened color in her depictions of ceremonial themes, hoop dancers, and Chickasaw and Choctaw myths. Collins adapted modern European and American painting styles to her representations of modern-day American and Oklahoma Native Americans.

Collins's work was exhibited in galleries across the United States, including the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona (1966); the McClean County Arts Center in Bloomington, Illinois (1991);

Death In the mid-1990s, Collins's health problems forced her to slow down in creating and exhibiting work. She died in Blanchard, Oklahoma on March 7, 1996.