130:, as they had lost several children through miscarriages and early childhood death. They kept Gritts at home until he was eight years old. School authorities finally insisted that he attend school and his parents reluctantly agreed. Although he could speak little English and was older than the other first-graders, he loved school from the beginning. Thanks to capable and caring teachers, he was able to catch up with his age group after a couple of years. The majority of the students were non-Indian but they quickly made friends with the shy newcomer. Gritts showed an early talent for art and this ability added to his popularity. By the time he reached high school, Gritts was active in sports and had bridged the gap between his home and his school life.
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313:, the ship was preparing for the attack on the Japanese homeland. The deck was covered with fully fueled aircraft and the already bombs loaded on them. Suddenly, a Japanese plane appeared and dropped two bombs. One bomb struck the flight deck centerline, penetrating to the hangar deck, effecting destruction and igniting fires through the second and third decks, and knocking out the Combat Information Center and air plot. The second hit aft, tearing through two decks.
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123:, a religious and cultural traditionist group with roots going back to the 1850s. The Eastern Emigrant and Western Cherokee Association held one of its meetings at George Gritts’ farm over several days in August 1920, with people arriving on foot, horseback, in wagons, and a few in cars. They set up a camp in his fields. Gritts’ first memory is of this event as he thought all these people had come for his fifth birthday on August 8.
197:-American man who appreciated American Indian art and valued his Native American students. Nevertheless, he held them to the high standards of the fine arts curriculum and granted them no special concessions. He encouraged them to develop their Indian art as an independent assignment. Thus, Gritts took portrait painting, figure painting, art appreciation, and other facets of fine art as well as the required general courses.
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224:, where he taught American Indian art in the high school and two-year post-high school divisions. This was quite an advancement for Gritts, since Haskell was a prominent American Indian school, attracting students from many different tribes and numerous states. He taught small classes and was able to give individual attention to his students.
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His 1950, "Stomp Dance" was included in C. Szwedzicki's "The North
American Indian Works" which is a collection of 364 images and six texts. Between 1929 and 1952 C. Szwedzicki, a publisher in Nice, France, produced six portfolios of North American Indian art. The publications were edited by American
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After five years at
Haskell, Gritts decided to try his own hand at commercial art. Housing was tight on campus, where employees were required to live, and he felt the possibilities inadequate for his growing family which would eventually include a daughter, Dara Stillman, and two sons, Bob Gritts and
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Gritts could see the need for commercial art training for talented students and transformed his classes accordingly. He did, however, continue to help and encourage serious students of Indian art to pursue this interest. He also continued his own passion for photography. With no blueprint to follow,
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At
Haskell, the atmosphere was charged with the excitement of the times. The traditional Academic Department remained much the same, but the Business and Vocational Departments were responding to the demands of the modern world. The Indian students flocking in from around the nation needed to "Learn
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Gritts was in a passageway near the deck when the ship was hit and was wounded in the left leg and foot by shrapnel. He managed to climb out of a porthole into the sea below and was picked up by a life raft of other survivors. They spent a cold night on the raft, drifting away from the stricken ship
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Upon his recovery and release from Great Lakes, he returned to
Haskell in 1947 He was released from service on September 19, 1947, after it was deemed he had recovered enough from his wounds. The nation was still in the process of rebuilding after WWII, when home construction and civilian
178:. This was a big leap to contemplate, from being part of a small, comfortable college close to home to tackling the huge and overwhelming state university. He did not hesitate, however, because he realized what a great opportunity it was. The country was in the grip of the
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as the infection in the tibia continued to drain and would not heal. To pass the time during his hospital stay, he developed a style of modern illustration and cartoons for the amusement of his fellow patients. Some of his work was published in service publications.
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was a newspaper distributed nationwide and was the outstanding baseball weekly of enthusiastic fans. Full of baseball news, stories, and statistics, it became known as the "Baseball Bible." It was still going strong in 1955 and had added a monthly magazine,
349:, he received his first extensive medical treatment, which revealed that an infection had set in the tibia bone of his left leg, and he had lost a toe on that foot. After a couple of weeks, he set sail again, this time on a hospital ship headed for
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Gritts’ work on the paper involved pasting up articles, photographs, and ads for each page, and original artwork on the front page. The weekly deadlines were crucial, but he always managed to get the paper out on time. He also prepared
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569:. For five decades, Art in Embassies (AIE) has played a leading role in U.S. public diplomacy through a focused mission of vital cross-cultural dialogue and understanding through the visual arts and dynamic artist exchange.
535:, is located there as well. The appreciation of Native American art which Gritts help to establish continues at Haskell to this day. Currently, Haskell Indian Art Market, a festival of two days, draws 30,000 people.
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and, as the sun set, saw it disappear on the horizon, listing badly. Shortly after daylight, they were rescued by a destroyer and Gritts received some basic first aid. He also began his long "hitch-hike" across the
333:, being transferred to any ship heading home to the United States. Unfortunately, some of these ships were ordered back into the fighting zone and he had to be re-routed when a ship going out of the area appeared.
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had ever sustained. Miraculously, the ship did not sink, although it was heavily damaged and thought to be destroyed. Because of its service in the previous "hot spots" and this attack, the crew of the USS
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His transfers from ship to ship on the turbulent seas were accomplished by heavy cable anchored on each ship. His stretcher was attached to the cables and he was pulled over the water. Finally arriving in
565:(1936, Tempera, Courtesy of Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma: Museum purchase, 1937) was on display in Cotonou, Benin in West Africa as part of the program
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manufacturing had been converted to the production of war materials of all kinds. The waves of returning veterans were being retrained for civilian life, many of them attending college under the
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Gritts graduated with a
Bachelor of Fine Arts' degree in painting in 1939. In June 1940, he married Geraldine Monroe whom he had met as at the University of Oklahoma.
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56:, the most damaged ship in the history of the U.S. Navy to return to port. He survived a devastating attack on March 19, 1945, but suffered injuries, earning the
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In addition to teaching, Gritts painted murals in various buildings on the
Haskell campus. He was commissioned to do an oil portrait of Peter Graves, a noted
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186:. He could never have aspired to enroll at the university without the government loan and the encouragement of the recruiters from the Indian Service.
111:. George's father, Anderson (A.W.) Gritts, was an officer of the Eastern Emigrant and Western Cherokee Association and supported lobbying efforts in
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served at the Bonin and
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Nordwall. He said it was a turning point when Gritts returned after the war and began teaching commercial art.
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was able to find employment as a commercial artist with the skills he learned at Haskel. Years later in 1968,
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to attain state teaching certification. Haskell was upgrading its status to become a member of the
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regarding land and oil rights early in the 20th century. This association was a divergent of the
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Gritts painted a large mural on four walls gracing the entrance to the auditorium at
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546:, A New True Book, by Emilie U. Lepthien, published in 1985, calls Gritts a famous
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This tranquil part of his career did not last long. The United States entered
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Rachel and George were not eager to send their only child to school in
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he developed a commercial art curriculum. He spent one summer at the
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The Five
Civilized Tribes: a Brief History and a Century of Progress
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Senior class Vian High School (Gritts is fourth from left, back row)
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Gritts faced more medical treatment at the Great Lakes
Hospital in
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798 sailors and
Marines were killed. It was the worst disaster the
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bought one of Gritts’ paintings. Gritts’ art is displayed at the
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Galen Gritts. He resigned his position and moved his family to
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disaster was announced, after a long period of censorship. In
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junior college for qualified Indian students located in nearby
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artist best known for his contributions to the "Golden Era" of
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became the most decorated crew in the history of the US Navy.
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scholars Oscar Brousse Jacobson, Hartley Burr Alexander and
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and in 1943 Gritts left sheltered campus life, entered the
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The dean of the School of Fine Arts at the university, Dr.
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After graduating, Gritts took a teaching position at the
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When Gritts was a high school senior, officials from the
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and money was very scarce, almost non-existent in rural
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as the principal organizer of the Indian occupation of
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Later in life, he worked as the art director for the
500:, Oklahoma. It is also in the collection of at the
353:, where he was transferred to a hospital train for
472:Gritts died on November 8, 1996, and is buried at
538:He illustrated the back cover of Grant Foreman's
396:North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
298:, and it slowly made its way toward the shore of
150:interviewed him and offered to recommend him to
37:, or "They Have Returned", (1914 – 1996) was a
421:after it ceased being used as a prison by the
162:. He readily accepted and spent two years at
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734:United States Navy personnel of World War II
651:Arthur and Shifra Silberman Art Collection
401:One of Gritts’ students after the war was
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79:Franklin Gritts at the age of five years
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294:theater of the war. He boarded ship at
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671:Haskell Indian Art Market draws 30,000
48:During World War II, he served on the
45:art, both as a teacher and an artist.
390:and took after-school classes at the
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764:20th-century Native American artists
474:Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
95:, was a traditionalist and attended
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646:Haskell Cultural Center and Museum
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525:Haskell Indian Nations University
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527:. His oil painting of the great
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724:University of Oklahoma alumni
714:United Keetoowah Band people
616:Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
502:Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
464:for publication each month.
99:religious ceremonies in the
621:Touring the Cherokee Nation
67:, the "Bible of Baseball."
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729:United States Navy sailors
641:Studies in American Indian
563:Indian Woman Grinding Corn
121:Original Keetoowah Society
107:who is also listed in the
484:Among others, First Lady
462:The Sporting Goods Dealer
454:The Sporting Goods Dealer
278:, he was assigned to the
23:Franklin Gritts painting
754:Native American painters
676:Indians in the War, 1945
666:Native American painting
593:. US Department of State
388:Art Institute of Chicago
168:Bureau of Indian Affairs
148:Bureau of Indian Affairs
759:Painters from St. Louis
494:Philbrook Museum of Art
251:(Gritts is on the left)
16:Native American painter
506:University of Oklahoma
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172:University of Oklahoma
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744:Cherokee male artists
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719:Bacone College alumni
626:The Artists’ Bluebook
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411:Adam Fortunate Eagle
407:Adam Fortunate Eagle
403:Adam Fortunate Eagle
392:University of Kansas
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296:Oakland, California
83:Gritts was born in
556:Kenneth M. Chapman
533:Cherokee syllabary
518:Muskogee, Oklahoma
423:federal government
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587:"Franklin Gritts"
561:In 2009, Gritts'
486:Eleanor Roosevelt
448:The Sporting News
440:The Sporting News
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709:1996 deaths
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698:Categories
573:References
382:to Earn."
109:Dawes Roll
93:Dawes Roll
71:Early life
442:in 1955.
371:G.I. Bill
318:U.S. Navy
280:USS
276:Pensacola
210:Fort Sill
117:Cherokees
50:USS
683:Franklin
548:Cherokee
529:Sequoyah
492:and the
419:Alcatraz
343:Franklin
323:Franklin
307:Franklin
305:The USS
282:Franklin
204:Teaching
193:, was a
184:Oklahoma
115:for the
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89:Cherokee
52:Franklin
25:Sequoyah
597:26 June
362:Chicago
351:Oakland
331:Pacific
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156:Baptist
134:College
480:Legacy
347:Hawaii
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274:After
498:Tulsa
468:Death
311:Japan
300:Japan
286:, an
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599:2022
261:Navy
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415:FBI
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