Hopi Dancers State 1 [SOLD]

Fritz Scholder, a painter, sculptor and printmaker of Luiseño descent, vowed early in his career never to “paint the Indian.”  Traditional flat-style paintings being made by Natives were, in his opinion, crowd-pleasing efforts that lacked originality.  Anglo-American artists’ paintings of Natives bored him too, with their romanticized portrayals of an idealized Indian.  An abstract painter with postmodern sensibilities didn’t fit into any of these roles.

After moving to Santa Fe to teach painting at the newly-established Institute of American Indian Arts, Scholder found himself immersed in Native culture and engaging with young Native artists for the first time.  He attended pueblo dances and began adding pieces of Indian art to his collection.  He was inspired by the forward-thinking young Native artists he instructed at IAIA  Ultimately, he rescinded his vow and decided to “paint the Indian” in a way the Indian had not been painted before.

Scholder’s paintings and lithographs from this productive period are, nearly fifty years later, as fresh and exciting as when they were created.  The controversy stirred up by his more jarring images—Indians drinking alcohol, a pueblo dancer eating an ice cream cone while dressed in ceremonial regalia—came and went quickly, as the works are honest, kind and open-minded in spirit.  Scholder wasn’t condemning the Indian for adapting to life in the twentieth century.  He was telling stories, telling jokes, and sharing anachronistic images.  He was telling the truth, or at least he was telling his version of the truth.

“Hopi Dancers” is one of Scholder’s finest works as a lithographer.  Using just two simple, striking colors—a bold blue and a bright red—he created a row of pueblo dancers so rich in depth and dimension that they seem almost real.  Their faces are expressive, and their bodies appear to actually be in motion.  They hold rattles, rain sashes, and evergreen boughs—an interesting bit of detail in a piece that seems to come more from the heart than the head.  

The bright blue ink is opaque in some areas and cloudy in others, adding to the lithograph’s rich texture.  The red ink is dazzling and impenetrable, extending from the dancers out to the piece’s exposed edges.  Shadow and negative space are, here, as important as outline and shading.  This piece is all feeling, an expressionist masterpiece that contains more life than a traditionally representational piece ever could.

Completed with just two colors, it uses the unique medium of lithography to its fullest potential.  This lithograph was completed in May 1974 in two colors, in an edition of 75.  This is number 27 of 75.  It is featured on page 113 of Clinton Adams’ book Fritz Scholder Lithographs.  A second state was also created using just black ink.  The lithograph is mounted with its edges exposed, so that the entire image is visible.  The lithograph was executed at Tamarind Institute, the renowned lithography workshop in Albuquerque that is affiliated with the University of New Mexico.

Provenance: from the large collection of a Santa Fe resident
Condition: original condition
Recommended Reading: Fritz Scholder Lithographs by Clinton Adams