Angel DeCora Art for Sale and Sold Prices

Painter, Wall painter, Illustrator

Angel De Cora Dietz (1871–1919) was a Winnebago painter, illustrator, Native American rights advocate, and teacher at Carlisle Indian School. She was the best known Native American artist before World War I.

Angel De Cora Dietz or Hinook-Mahiwi-Kalinaka (Fleecy Cloud Floating in Place), was born at the Winnebago Agency in Dakota County (now Thurston), Nebraska, on May 3, the daughter of David Tall Decora, a Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) of French ancestry and a son of the Little Decorah, a hereditary chief. Angel was born into the Thunderbird clan; her English and Ho-Chunk names were chosen by a relative who was asked to name her, opened the Bible, and the word "angel" caught her eye. Her mother was a member of the influential LaMere family. She was kidnapped at a young age from the Agency, and sent to school in Hampton, Virginia. "A strange white man appeared on the reservation and asked her, through an interpreter, if she would like to ride on a steam car; with six other children, she decided to try it, and when the ride was ended she found herself in Hampton. '[It was] three years later when I returned to my mother' says Angel De Cora. 'she told me that for months she wept and mourned for me. My father and the old chief and his wife had died, and with them the old Indian life was gone.'"

As granddaughter to the chief of the Winnebago tribe, De Cora existed in a position of influence since "among most plains people, power and cultural knowledge were accumulated by and dispensed through females" (35). Although De Cora's mother was French in origin, De Cora would be expected to follow in her grandmothers footsteps in passing along cultural practices. "During the summers we lived on the Reservation, my mother cultivating her garden and my father playing the chief's son. During the winter we used to follow the chase away off the Reservation, along rivers and forests. My father provided not only for his family then, but his father's also. We were always moving camp. As a child, my life was ideal. In all my childhood I never received a cross word from any one, but nevertheless, my training was incessant. About as early as I can remember, I was lulled to sleep night after night by my father's or grandparent's recital of laws and customs that had regulated the daily life of my grandsires for generations and generations, and in the morning I was awakened by the same counselling. Under the influence of such precepts and customs, I acquired the general bearing of a well-counselled Indian child, rather reserved, respectful, and mild in manner."

Personal: De Cora was married to William Henry "Lone Star" Dietz (Wicarhpi Isnala), who claimed Dakota and German descent but his true identity remains highly controversial. Dietz also taught at the Carlisle Indian School. He and De Cora met at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. n addition to his art, Dietz was a notable football player, and in 1915 he became head coach of Washington State; he later was the first head coach of the Washington Redskins.

Death: Angel De Cora contracted pneumonia, and she died in the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts on 6 February 1919. She is buried at the Bridge Street Cemetery.