“Fritz Scholder did not grow up as an Indian,” reads the artist’s biography. This feels charged with assumptions of what Indian life is or includes. Scholder, himself one-quarter Luiseño, reportedly never felt any close connection to his Indigenous heritage. Only through exasperation did Scholder begin engaging with the idea of Indigeneity as it relates to the broader context of America’s national mythos. Even then, his sociopolitical involvement with the topic was more of a fluke than an intention, at least initially.
Scholder considered himself an artist above all. In the literature on Scholder, the title or profession of artist appears as the heart of his identity. One need only read transcripts of his interviews to realize that the questions of American vs. Indian identity, cultural assimilation, and social mobility that surround his oeuvre were tangential to his primary concern of artistic practice. Like many artists from his generation, he grew up on abstract expressionism, a politically charged movement from the fallout of war that brought philosophical questions of authorship and authenticity to the fore of art discourse. His named influences include Willem de Kooning and Francis Bacon, artists who drew and painted with distinct immediacy and gestural physicality. And so, as an artist who taught in the early days of his career, Scholder grew frustrated with his students’ disingenuous depictions of Indians and painted one himself with raw immediacy, breaking his oath to never use Indigenous life or subjects in his work.
According to the journalism on the event, the pivotal act cut a new path for Scholder’s career. In the 70s and 80s, the artist embraced Indigenous subjects and was subsequently derided by critics for bluntly–sometimes crudely–depicting the social realities of Indians working and living in American society. Scholder’s scenes of alcoholism and poverty, particularly those in his Indians Forever Portfolio, made many question whether Scholder was exploiting Indigenous struggles for his own financial gain. To some, Scholder laid the groundwork for contemporary Indigenous artists to break away from the romanticized, stereotypical depiction of the noble Indian. To others, Scholder perpetuated negative perceptions of Indigenous life and people. The often oversimplified controversy surrounding Scholder and his oeuvre is emblematic of a bigger cultural problem: America’s inability to wrap its head around the nuance of what it means to be Indigenous. Honoring heritage and tradition need not be mutually exclusive with participating in modern American society. Remaining connected to one’s roots should not disqualify one from pursuing socioeconomic well-being or mobility. When Scholder stated he did not grow up as an Indian, it is possible that he meant he did not grow up as the Indian that America expected him to be.
In Hopi Dancers (State I), Scholder again subverts expectations by blending Western modern art aesthetics with the living and ceremonial dance culture of the Hopi. Pale indigo figures dance on a vermillion field. The loose turpentine touche washes that comprise the figures evoke the motion of dance while nodding to de Kooning’s pioneering brushwork as the chromatic tension injects the scene with the intoxicating energy of ceremony. Here, Scholder’s interest in formal qualities shines through to highlight a different side of his Indian-dominated oeuvre. The final impression from the edition, Hopi Dancers (State I) comes to us directly from the publisher, Tamarind, where Scholder was first introduced to lithography.
About the Artist
Fritz Scholder (b. 10/6/1937–d. 2/10/2005) exhibited at the Denver Art Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Phoenix Art Museum, the Heard Museum, the Crocker Art Museum, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others. He received numerous awards, including the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement, the Norsk Høstfest Humanitarian Award, and the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, among others. He was a California Hall of Fame inductee.
Fritz Scholder, Hopi Dancers (State 1) (Detail)
Fritz Scholder, Hopi Dancers (State 1) (Detail)
Fritz Scholder, Hopi Dancers (State 1) (Detail)
Fritz Scholder, Hopi Dancers (State 1) (Detail)
To learn more, see Fritz Scholder: Painiting the Paradox.