Indian Image

Fritz Scholder, Indian Image, 1972, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1973.151
Fritz Scholder, Indian Image, 1972, acrylic on canvas, stretcher: 68 1⁄8 x 80 in. (173.0 x 203.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1973.151

Artwork Details

Title
Indian Image
Artist
Date
1972
Location
Dimensions
stretcher: 68 1⁄8 x 80 in. (173.0 x 203.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Mediums
Mediums Description
acrylic on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — plain
  • Indian
  • Equestrian
Object Number
1973.151
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1973.151

Artwork Description

The figure in Indian Image appears to be just that: a flat image, as if cut from paper and pasted onto a colorful background.

An artist of Luiseño and European ancestry, Fritz Scholder both did and did not identify as American Indian, and early in his career, he chose not to paint American Indian subjects. He changed his mind in the 1960s, after encountering countless artworks that depict American Indian people two-dimensionally, as doomed figures existing only in a romanticized past.

By contrast, Scholder asserted a modern American Indian aesthetic. Enlivened by pop-art color and energetic brushwork, his paintings are pointedly contemporary in style, even when based--as is Indian Image--on a historical photograph.

Works by this artist (42 items)

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William Christenberry, River House, 1980, wood, construction board, paperboard, metal, and dirt, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Benjamin P. Nicolette, 1994.92
River House
Artist
Date1980
wood, construction board, paperboard, metal, and dirt
On view
William Christenberry, 5¢, Demopolis, Alabama, 1978, chromogenic print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Benjamin P. Nicolette, 2006.31.4
5¢, Demopolis, Alabama
Artist
Date1978
chromogenic print
Not on view
William Christenberry, Cotton Warehouse Door with Cart--Selma, Alabama, 1979, printed 1981, chromogenic print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Martha Gross, 1986.69.12, © 1979, William Christenberry
Cotton Warehouse Door with Cart – Selma, Alabama
Artist
Date1979, printed 1981
chromogenic print
Not on view
William Christenberry, White Door--near Stewart, Alabama, 1980, printed 1981, chromogenic print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Martha Gross, 1986.69.1, © 1980, William Christenberry
White Door – near Stewart, Alabama
Artist
Date1980, printed 1981
chromogenic print
Not on view

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