Brummett Echohawk

Brummett T. Echohawk (1922–2006) was an artist known for his wartime illustrations, historical pictures, and impressionist landscapes, as well as an actor, speaker, humorist, and writer. He was born on March 3, 1922, in Pawnee, Oklahoma, and died at age 83 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on February 13, 2006. Echohawk was a member of the Pawnee Indian tribe.

During World War II, Echohawk served with Oklahoma's 45th Infantry Division, known as the Thunderbirds, in Company B, 179th Infantry. He saw active duty in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, demonstrating bravery in combat for which he received three Bronze Star Medals, three Purple Hearts, and a Congressional Gold Medal. Echohawk's wartime art depicting combat was published in the Army's Yank Magazine and distributed to 88 newspapers across the nation.

Echohawk was deeply influenced by his Pawnee roots. However, he resisted the label of "Indian artist." Echohawk's paintings and illustrations explore themes of identity, cultural heritage, and the regional landscape.

Biography Brummett T. Echohawk was born in Pawnee, Oklahoma, on March 3, 1922, and spent his childhood at the Ponca Indian Boarding School in Ponca, Oklahoma. After his mother's death in 1929, he was adopted by his uncle George Echo Hawk and his wife Lucille Shunatona. He attended high school in New Mexico and Oklahoma, joining the National Guard in 1939.

Themes and artwork Brummett Echohawk's art style can be characterized as Impressionistic, as in An Island of Redbuds on the Cimarron (1968). He employed a variety of textures and techniques, including thickly applied paint and a Bowie knife for specific effects. He described his aims as: "A painting should be an investment. It should move you and move you and move you. That is why I do Impressionistic landscapes. I am painting the spirit of a picture, not a picture of a picture." He avoided exhibiting in traditional Indian art expositions, though much of his work depicted American Indians and the West. He saw himself as a realist painter, with classical training, who was also Pawnee.

Trail of Tears (1957) depicts the forced removal of the Pawnee Nation from ancestral homelands (in the region of present-day Nebraska) to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). He researched his history paintings in order to accurately portray the past and avoid stereotypes. He did extensive research on the Battle of Little Big Horn and the Amon Carter Museum included two of his paintings in a 1968 Custer exhibition.

His 39 drawings, displayed at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, offer his perspective on the wartime experience.