Paul Coze
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Paul Coze | |
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Born | Paul Jean Coze-Dabija [1] 1903 |
Died | 1974 Phoenix, Arizona, USA |
Resting place | St. Francis Catholic Cemetery, Phoenix, Arizona, USA |
Nationality | French-American |
Known for | French authority on Native Americans |
Notable work | Mœurs et histoire des Peaux-Rouges |
Style | Native |
Awards | Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur |
Paul Coze (born Paul Jean Coze-Dabija, 29 July 1903 in Beirut, Lebanon, died 2 December 1974 Phoenix, Arizona) was a French/Serbian-American anthropologist, artist, and writer, most notable as a French authority on Native Americans, and for his public art in the 1960s.
Biography
Born in Beirut of a French engineer father, Edouard Coze, and a mother, Sonia/Sofia Dabija, a Russian princess with lineage from old Serbian royalty, Coze grew acquainted with riding and roping as a young man. On his return to France, as a teenager he became co-founder of Scouts de France, the first French Scout program. Coze was the first French Wood Badger and a Chevalier de France, and served as editor of the Scout magazine.
During years of art training, an increasing fascination with cowboys and Native Americans led to four museum-sponsored anthropological expeditions to western Canada (1928-1932) and a book, Mœurs et histoire des Peaux-Rouges (1928, with Rene Thévenin), still in print as a standard work. Many of Coze's hundreds of collected artifacts now reside at the Royal Alberta Museum.
Coze moved to the United States circa 1938, in Pasadena, California since 1942, spending two years producing major educational murals at Mesa Verde National Park.
He acted as a technical adviser on the Hollywood films Uncertain Glory (1944) and Rogues' Regiment where he also had a small role. Coze acted as a researcher on The Razor's Edge (1946).[2]
Settling in Phoenix, Arizona full-time in 1951, he founded an art school and created nine major pieces of public art in the city, including large multimedia installations at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum and other civic landmarks, most with Native themes.[3] In 1971, Coze created a fountain for the Phoenix Indian Hospital.[3]
Coze provided artistic designs for Arizona's celebration of 50 years of statehood, The Arizona Story, in 1962.
Coze served as a French consul for Arizona.[4]
He died in 1974 and is buried in St. Francis Catholic Cemetery in Phoenix.
Creative work
Painting and Illustration
Coze created numerous paintings and drawings that were used as illustrations in Arizona Highways magazine; he often also wrote the article texts that were informed by his work as an anthropologist. His 19-page long feature article, Twenty-four Hours of Magic...The Zuñi Shalako, was illustrated with 13 paintings, 11 drawings, and four of his photographs. The illustrations and article describes the ten-foot high ceremonial masks that are worn by the Shalako dancers that represent the six directions of the world. It tracks the 24 hour long ceremonial dance, singing and feasting that blesses the new homes in the pueblo.[5]
Murals
Coze produced a series of murals for Mesa Verde National Park. His 16 ft. high by 75 ft. wide mixed media mural, The Phoenix, was created in 1962 for the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and was created with 52 different materials; paint, gemstones, mosaic glass, vintage toys and shells on three panels.[6] He also produced murals for the Phoenix Civic Council chamber, the Arizona First American Title building, the Mayer-Heard building, and a four-story high mural for the Arizona Blue Cross Blue Shield headquarters. Coze created 14 murals in St. Thomas the Apostle church in Phoenix of the stations of the cross. In 1980 they were covered over with wallpaper by a parishoner in preparation for his daughter's marriage there. The murals were restored in 1994.[4][3]
Photography
Coze was an ethnographic photographer and collector of photographs and cultural objects.[7][8]
Recognition
He published seven books and numerous articles for Arizona Highways magazine, was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1954, and was French consul for Phoenix for decades.
References
- ^ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106802561/paul-jean-coze_dabija
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0185478/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr24
- ^ a b c Steckner, Susie (5 April 1996). "Fading art: The eclipse of works would have hurt creator". Arizona Republic. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Paul Coze, Consul for Arizona (obituary)". Tampa Bay Times. 5 December 1974. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
- ^ Coze, Paul (November 1954). "Twenty-four Hours of Magic...the Zuñi Shalako". Arizona Highways: 10–27, 34–35.
- ^ Trimble, Lynn (13 December 2019). "The Phoenix Mural at Sky Harbor Airport is Moving in 2021 — Here's What We Know So Far". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
- ^ Horton, Jessica L (2017). "Performing Paint, Claiming Space: The Santa Fe Indian School Posters on Paul Coze's Stage in Paris, 1935". TransAtlantica. 2. doi:10.4000/transatlantica.11220. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
- ^ Goodwin, Ted. "41 Photos Document Everyday Life of Native Americans in Western Canada, 1930s". History Daily. Retrieved 17 March 2021.