Monotype - Upside Down Dog #1[SOLD]

World-famous painter and sculptor Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) began exploring printmaking in 1969, when he signed a contract with Albuquerque’s Tamarind Institute to create a portfolio of similarly-themed lithographs.  His compositional talents and unique eye for color were well suited to printmaking.  Even his earliest attempts at Tamarind were artistic successes.  His Indians Forever suite, completed in 1971, contained depictions of Indians that ranged from nearly traditional to radically innovative.

Scholder created a great many monotype prints, too.  Monotype printing is a method of printing in which an image is created on a smooth, non-absorbent surface (usually a copper, zinc, glass or acrylic plate) and then transferred to a sheet of paper by pressing the two together.  Monotype printing offers certain advantages over lithography that were likely attractive to Scholder, including freedom to compose multicolored images spontaneously.  He was able to use a wider variety of colors, too, and to mix his chosen colors in ways that were impossible with other printmaking methods.  The majority of Scholder’s monotypes were completed at Santa Fe’s Hand Graphics and Scottsdale’s Rezvani Workshop.

This monotype, titled “Upside Down Dog #1,” is lighthearted and beautiful in both subject matter and execution.  Scholder made the most of this unique medium’s advantages, using a larger color palette than he’d have been afforded by other printmaking methods.  The dominant colors are warm pinks and yellows, which are blended together beautifully across the background of the piece.  In the foreground, the titular dog is made of bolder, brighter pinks, cool splashes of blue and purple, and a single shot of lime green.  Scholder must have loved this animal, as he depicted him dozens of times in a variety of media.  These images are some of Scholder’s most accessible works—his affection for his subject is contagious.

“Upside Down Dog #1” was most likely completed in the 1970s.  The impression size is identical to that of another series of monotypes that was completed at Hand Graphics.  It is reasonable to infer that this piece was completed at Hand, but we cannot say with certainty—it is not marked with the chop marks of this or any other print shop.  It is signed and titled by the artist in the lower right and left corners, respectively.  

Condition: this Monotype - Upside Down Dog #1 is in excellent original condition

Provenance: from the large collection of a Santa Fe resident