Fritz Scholder “Indian at the Circus” Color Trial Proof [SOLD]

“Indian at the Circus” is a well-known image, due in large part to its inclusion in artist Fritz Scholder’s Indians Forever Suite.  The Indians Forever Suite comprised eight stone lithographs presented in a brown hemp portfolio. This body of work was initially exhibited in November 1971, alongside additional lithographs that were not part of the suite. The creation of “Indian at the Circus” was challenging for Scholder, who was quite new to lithography at the time. The numbered edition print was a five-color piece, which required patience and careful planning. When painting, Scholder could compose colorful images freely and spontaneously; exploring lithography required him to master an entirely new process.

Clinton Adams’ Fritz Scholder Lithographs describes the complexity of the process: “The making of a color lithograph requires a kind of analytic thinking that is quite foreign to the way a painter usually works. Not only must he cope with the mirror-reversal of the image, as in black and white, but also with the much more complex problems of color separation and registration. After his first ‘key’ drawing has been made, each important line must be transferred (most often by a tracing in red chalk) to the separate stones or plates from which each color will be printed. Although the artist necessarily draws in black on all of these stones, he must somehow visualize while working how the first of the stones will look when printed in red, how the second will look when printed in blue and, most importantly, how the two will look when printed together.” (25)

This “Indian at the Circus” lithograph is a wonderful result of the experimentation that occurred on the way to the final numbered edition. This is a rare color trial proof, completed in different colors than the numbered edition. In the numbered edition, the titular Indian is made of tan and pink. Here, he is filled in with a vivid red, which appears only briefly in the numbered edition. A bright green and a rich purple surround the Native man, forming a strong and appealing variation of one of Scholder’s most famous Indians Forever images.

“Indian at the Circus” was completed in December 1970 at Tamarind Institute, in an edition of 75 plus various proofs. This print is signed Scholder in lower right, labeled “Color Trial Proof” in lower left, and marked with the chop marks of the artist, printer, and print shop.  It is unframed.

Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) was by birth one-quarter Luiseño Indian, a California Mission Tribe. He was born in Minnesota, spent two decades in the Dakotas, and lived in Galisteo, NM, and Scottsdale, AZ.  Scholder came to Santa Fe in 1964 to teach advanced painting and art history at the new Institute of American Indian Arts, a school established by the United States Department of the Interior. He obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Arizona in 1964 before moving to Santa Fe and joining IAIA.  Scholder enjoyed a long and successful career and is regarded today as one of the most innovative and influential Native artists.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Fritz Scholder "Indian at the Circus" Color Trial Proof is from a private Santa Fe collection

Reference: Fritz Scholder Lithographs Text by Clinton Adams

Relative Links: Luiseño Indian, a California Mission Tribe, Santa Fe, paintings, lithographs, Albuquerque, Fritz Scholder, Luiseño Indian Painter