Breaking Camp During Wartime

In his mural Breaking Camp During Wartime, Allan Capron Houser depicts the Native experience of displacement. A Chiricahua Apache family travels by horseback after packing up their camp. The father rides ahead while the mother and their tightly swaddled baby in its cradle board follow. Behind them, a donkey carries the family’s bundled belongings on its back. The father rests a rifle on his shoulder. It is unclear what war the mural references or who the enemy might be.

Located in the Indian Arts and Crafts Shop at the Department of the Interior building in Washington, D.C., Breaking Camp During Wartime is one of two murals executed by Houser in 1938. On the opposing wall, Navajo artist Gerald Nailor painted a mural titled Deer Stalking and several symbolic designs over the doorway. Both artists trained at the Santa Fe Indian School in New Mexico and learned a style of painting characterized by flat, delicate colors and precise outlines inspired by Plains hide painting and Pueblo pottery and mural designs. This resulting “Studio Style” is evident in each mural, as is the distinctive approach taken by each artist. Houser often painted scenes with dynamic movement and included elements of humor, while Nailor frequently painted in a softer palette and infused his scenes with quiet tension. To create each composition, both artists drew upon their respective Chiricahua Apache and Navajo traditions and narratives for inspiration.