Fritz Scholder Lithograph titled “Patriotic Indian” [SOLD]

“Patriotic Indian” (First State) is a stone lithograph by Luiseño artist Fritz Scholder.  It is a strong, striking image that will appeal to anyone who appreciates Scholder’s groundbreaking portraits of Native people.  Here, we see a seated man in profile.  He wears an enormous headdress and rests his right hand on a cane.  His face, made entirely of blue ink with a ghostly transparent texture, is remarkably lifelike.  Bold blue lines frame the contours of his face, and a hand treated with the same methods feels similarly lifelike.  A brilliant bright red serves as the background, and the buff Arches paper’s off-white tone balances the image in the untouched areas.  In the headdress and a large portion of the man’s body, the two colors combine beautifully to create a rich, dark blue.  By the time this image was completed, Scholder had been working in the lithography medium for over five years, and his experience is apparent in the appealing tones and textures seen here. 

“Patriotic Indian” (First State) was completed in February 1975, in an edition of 50.  This lithograph is signed Scholder in lower right and numbered 44/50 in lower left.  It is marked with the appropriate artist, printer, and workshop chop marks.  It is mounted with its edges exposed, within a wide off-white mat, in a silver and blue frame.  This image appears on page 6 of Clinton Adams’ Fritz Scholder Lithographs.

Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) was a contemporary American artist who 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 had 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 Lithograph titled "Patriotic Indian" is from a private collection

Recommended Reading:

- FRITZ SCHOLDER —An Intimate Look Institute of American Indian Arts Museum

- FRITZ SCHOLDER LITHOGRAPHS text by Clinton Adams

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