Indian Kachina [R]

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  He was inspired by the forward-thinking young Native artists he instructed at IAIA  Ultimately, he rescinded his vow and decided to “paint the Indian” in a way the Indian had not been painted before.

Many of these works were, at the time of their releases, somewhat controversial.  A skeletal, sunglass-wearing Indian holding a Coors can, a pueblo dancer eating an ice cream cone, an Indian wearing an American flag, an Indian brandishing a rifle—these were images that the art world had never seen.  Scholder’s images were not mean-spirited, he was simply painting what he felt needed to be painted: honest, unflinching portraits of a marginalized group of people to whom he was inextricably linked but with whom he did not relate.

Scholder must have developed an affinity for the pueblo peoples’ ceremonial functions, however, as he also created many straightforward depictions of these ceremonies and their participants.  “Indian Kachina,” an original mixed-media piece made with black paint and colorful pastels, is one of these simple and beautiful compositions.  Scholder created the titular Kachina using figure-ground reversal.  He filled in the negative space with black ink, giving his subject a dramatic appearance.

Over this black paint, colorful pastels—blue, yellow, pink, green and white—were used to create the Kachina’s mask and evergreen ruff.  As is often the case with his depictions of Kachinas and ceremonial dancers, Scholder created a fairly abstract image while providing just enough detail to make his subject clear to the viewer.  “Indian Kachina” is, like Scholder’s best works, rich in depth, dimension and color.

“Indian Kachina” is framed and matted beautifully and signed in the upper left.

Provenance: from the collection of a Santa Fe family
Condition: it is in excellent condition