Fritz Scholder Lithograph “Taos Horse No. 12” [SOLD]

“Taos Horse No. 12” is an original stone lithograph by Fritz Scholder, an influential Luiseño painter, printmaker, and sculptor.  Scholder practiced lithography extensively during the 1970s, mostly at Albuquerque’s Tamarind Institute.  Though initially hesitant, he took to the medium quickly and eventually used it to produce some of his strongest and most iconic images. “Taos Horse No. 12” is a lithograph with which we were previously unfamiliar.  Very little information about the piece exists online, which suggests that it has not been widely circulated on the secondary market.

“Taos Horse No. 12” is a beautiful image that makes the most of the unique textural possibilities offered by the medium of lithography.  The viewer’s first impression will likely focus on the interaction between the gorgeous purple and navy-blue tones.  The purple appears in a smooth, uniform manner, while the blue has a vaporous texture.  When the blue appears over the purple, a darker combination of the two appears.  Down below, it’s smoky and mysterious.  Up above, it’s applied smoothly and consistently, forming a distant mountain range rising into a purple sky.  A wonderful orange tone appears on the right side of the image, forming a winding road down below and a cloudy abstracted form up above.

Scholder let the paper remain largely untouched by ink in just a few areas, forming the horse in the foreground and a large building in the distance.  The paper’s off-white color peeks through in a few other spots as well, clarifying the separation between the flat desert and the quickly rising mountain range.  Those who are familiar with the area will recognize this as a fairly accurate depiction of Taos and the steep, purple-hued mountains that rise behind it.  It’s a pleasure to see a landscape by Fritz Scholder, and it comes as no surprise that it so wonderfully incorporates dreamy abstraction and rich textural experimentation.

The lithograph is signed Scholder and numbered 27/50 in lower right.  It is mounted with its edges exposed, within a wide purple mat and a wood frame.

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.  Fritz 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.  Fritz 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 Lithograph "Taos Horse No. 12" is from a private collection

Recommended Reading: FRITZ SCHOLDER LITHOGRAPHS text by Clinton Adams

Relative Links: Fritz Scholder, Luiseño, Native American art, Santa Fe, lithographs, Albuquerque