Allan Houser, Chiricahua Apache, Native Indian, 1914-1994. New Mexico, California, Minnesota, Oklahoma. Indian figure sculpture, monumental, bronze, mural. Similar artists: Frederic Sackrider Remington, Larry Yazzie, Cliff Fragua, Doug Hyde, Fritz Scholder, Helen Hardin, Maxine Noel. Influences: Henry Moore, Barbara Hempworth, Constantin Brâncuși, Jean Arp, Isamu Noguchi.

“Young Friends” is incised on the back of the figure at the lowest point as: 3/100, AF (stamp), Allan Houser © 85. H 20 x W 15 x D 11 in.

Houser presented a unique style through his sculpted depictions of Native Indian figures. The artist developed his own voice in the modern art world. Early formal art training available for modern American Indian artists advocated flat, pictorial style in tempera that would not diverge from tradition. Houser was self taught in the area of sculpture, although the medium brought him great fame as the patriarch of American Indian sculpture and one who helped to define contemporary indigenous art through teaching a “staggering amount” of students. His work was world-renowned, and he exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Golden Gate International Exposition, and the New York World’s Fair. After he retired his vision as a figurative sculptor was fully realized. "Young Friends" is a strong example of Houser’s later style, for which he is best known for. His work is characterized by Native Indian subjects shown through the lens of Western modernist style that is simplified, sleek and timeless. The figures converge at the center with bodies that have been transformed into elongated, abstract planes. When viewed from different angles, the work features distinctive silhouettes that cast fantastic formal shadows. The sculpture is a testament to Houser’s role in redefining the way that art created by Indigenous citizens is made, viewed, and understood.   Keywords: modernist, geometric, abstract, figural, Native American