Johnny Tiger Jr.

{{Short description|Native American artist}} {{About|the artist|the film|Johnny Tiger}} {{Infobox artist | name = Johnny Tiger Jr. | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Johnny Moore Tiger Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date|1940|2|13|mf=y}} | birth_place = Tahlequah, Oklahoma, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age |2015|08|05|1940|2|13}} | death_place = | known_for = painting, sculpture | training = | movement = Bacone style | notable_works = | patrons = | awards = Master Artist, Five Civilized Tribes Museum (1982) | elected = | website = }} '''Johnny Moore Tiger Jr.''' (Muscogee Creek-Seminole), (February 13, 1940 – August 5, 2015) was a Native American artist from Oklahoma.<ref name=les>Lester, 557</ref><ref name=phoenix>{{cite web|title=Johnny Moore Tiger Jr.|url=http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/obituaries/johnny-moore-tiger-jr/article_137978ea-6913-5fb9-a036-235bf22567d9.html?mode=jqm|publisher=Muskogee Phoenix|accessdate=13 August 2015|date=8 August 2015}}</ref>

==Background== Johnny Moore Tiger Jr. was born on February 13, 1940, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. His parents were Lucinda Lou Lewis and the John M. Tiger.<ref name=phoenix/><ref name=les/> His younger brother, the late Jerome Tiger, was a celebrated artist.<ref name=ohs>Hunt, David C. [http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=TI001 "Tiger, Jerome Richard (1941–1967).] ''Oklahoma History Center's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Retrieved August 12, 2015.</ref> As a child, he traveled with his grandfather Rev. Coleman Lewis, a well known Baptist missionary within the Muscogee Creek Nation. While traveling, Coleman taught his grandson the history and cosmology of their people in the Mvskoke, their tribal language. He is uncle to Dana Tiger.<ref name="Tall Chief (2012)">{{cite news|last1=Tall Chief|first1=Russ|title=Triumph Over Tragedy|url=http://www.orenda-art.com/artistes-galerie-orenda/artiste-dana-tiger-galerieorenda.html|access-date=8 April 2015|publisher=Orenda Art|date=December 2012}}</ref>

He attended Chilocco Indian School and graduated from Muskogee Central High School in 1958.<ref name=phoenix/> After graduation, he served in the United States Air Force.<ref name=phoenix/>

==Art career== As a young man Tiger loved pin striping hot rods but moved towards fine arts. His paintings illustrated the oral history of his tribes, and he painted scenes such as a tribal gathering, stomp dances, or medicine men healing the sick, based on his own experiences.

In 1959, he enrolled at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, to study art under the legendary Southern Cheyenne painter Dick West.<ref name=les/> His classmates included David E. Williams and Joan Hill.<ref>Wyckoff, 56</ref> After winning numerous major art awards by the late 1970s, he became a full-time artist. The Five Civilized Tribes Museum declared Johnny a Master Artist in 1982.<ref name=les/>

Tiger was also a well-known sculptor.<ref name=ohs/> He received many major awards and produced several bronze pieces.

==Death== Johnny Tiger Jr. died on August 5, 2015.<ref>{{cite web|title=Johnny M. Tiger Jr|url=http://www.cornerstoneofmuskogee.com/obituaries/Johnny-Tiger/|publisher=Cornerstone Funder Home|accessdate=13 August 2015|location=Muscogee, Oklahoma}}</ref> Funeral services were held at the First Baptist Church in Eufaula, Oklahoma, and he was interred at the Greenwood Cemetery in Eufaula.<ref name=phoenix/>

==See also== * Dana Tiger

==Notes== {{reflist|2}}

==References== * Lester, Patrick D. ''The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. {{ISBN|0-8061-9936-9}}. * Wyckoff, Lydia L., ed. ''Visions and Voices: Native American Painting from the Philbrook Museum of Art''. Tulsa, OK: Philbrook Museum of Art, 1996. {{ISBN|0-86659-013-7}}.

==External links== *[https://dc.library.okstate.edu/digital/collection/ona/id/253/rec/29 Oral History Interview with Johnny Tiger Jr.]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiger, Johnny Jr.}} Category:1940 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Muscogee Nation people Category:Native American painters Category:Native American sculptors Category:Painters from Oklahoma Category:People from Tahlequah, Oklahoma Category:Seminole Nation of Oklahoma people Category:Sculptors from Oklahoma Category:20th-century American painters Category:21st-century American painters Category:20th-century American sculptors Category:21st-century American sculptors Category:20th-century Native American artists Category:21st-century Native American artists Category:Muscogee male artists Category:Muscogee artists Category:Native American people from Oklahoma