Virtual Art Tour

Earl Biss, Native American, 1947-1998

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Earl Biss was born in Renton, Wash., but spent much of his early life on the Crow Reservation in Montana, absorbing and retaining the legends and history of his Native American people. These tales and dreams were revived and relived by Biss through his work on canvas. "If I had my way the world would be beautiful, alluring, idyllic, simple, poetic and heroic . . . I know the old days will never be again, but in my dreams I see them - and wish they could." Known to his people as "Spotted Horse," Biss often included a spotted horse in his paintings.

A talented youth, Biss began painting in oils at the age of eight. He received his first real professional art instruction at the Institute of American Indian Art in 1965. Biss then attended the San Francisco Art Institute, receiving one of only 10 scholarships awarded nationally through competition and a period of work and study. On a long sojourn in Europe, taken after finishing his schooling, Biss lived and painted in Holland, Paris, Italy and Greece.

President Reagan honored Biss at the Kennedy Center's Night of the First Americans. His artwork is included in the prestigious, permanent collections of the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Center for Arts of Indian America in Washington, D.C. and the Smithsonian Institute, to name just a few. "Biss' paintings, though created of dreams and fantasies, have in them the history and lore of his people, the heredity of a Crow," stated Bryon Jones, author of Reliving the Days of Indian Glory.