# T. C. Cannon artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/t-c-cannon/
Profile generated: 2026-05-16T09:57:21.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Death date: 1978-05-08
- Nationality: American
- Movements: 20th-century Native American art, Kiowa school of painting
- Common media: Oil painting, Lithography and printmaking, Sculpture, Drawing

## About T. C. Cannon

T. C. Cannon (born Tommy Wayne Cannon, 1946–1978) was a Kiowa-Caddo painter, printmaker, sculptor, and poet widely regarded as one of the most important Native American artists of the twentieth century. An enrolled member of the Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma with Caddo and French ancestry, Cannon studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he developed a bold, expressive visual language that fused Indigenous cultural themes with modernist painting traditions. His work spans oil on canvas, lithography, drawing, and sculpture, and frequently addresses Native American identity, portraiture, and cultural memory. Cannon's career was cut short when he died in a car accident in Santa Fe on May 8, 1978, at the age of 32. Despite his brief life, his influence on contemporary Native American art remains profound, and his work is held in major institutional collections.

## Common works and media

Collectors may encounter Cannon's work in several formats. Original oil paintings on canvas and board form the core of his output and represent the highest-value segment at auction. Color lithographs and editioned prints are more accessible entry points and appear regularly in prints-and-multiples sales. Drawings and works on paper in ink, graphite, and mixed media also surface periodically. Sculptural works are less common but documented. Subject matter typically includes Native American portraiture, ceremonial and cultural scenes, and figurative compositions that blend Indigenous iconography with vivid, modernist color palettes.

## Market and appraisal context

T. C. Cannon's relatively small body of work—created over roughly a decade and a half before his death at 32—creates natural scarcity in the market. Collectors most frequently encounter his oil paintings, color lithographs, and works on paper at auction, with original paintings generally commanding the strongest results. Provenance, condition, and medium are primary valuation factors. Works with documented exhibition history or institutional provenance tend to be valued higher. His significance as a foundational figure in contemporary Native American art sustains ongoing collector interest across Native American art, Western art, and contemporary painting categories.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine structured identity research from library authority files, museum records, and scholarly sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For T. C. Cannon, identity data is grounded in the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, RKD, and Wikidata authority files.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7668165
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._C._Cannon
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500126514
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/96614703/
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/248241
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n87127888