Film Indian - Bon a Tirer proof [SOLD]

Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) was a world-famous painter, sculptor and printmaker of Luiseño Indian descent.  He was already very successful and famous by the time he formally added “printmaker” to his resume.  He had experimented with lithography during his college years, and found the process frustrating.  As an abstract painter, he was not accustomed to the careful planning that was required to successfully compose a multicolored image.  He described his initial experiments with the printmaking process as “laborious and terribly technical.”

In 1969, Scholder signed a contract to create a series of lithographs at Albuquerque’s Tamarind Institute.  Under the guidance of Tamarind’s experienced master printers, Scholder quickly came into his own as a lithographer.  He would go on to enjoy a long and productive relationship with Tamarind, creating hundreds of lithographs.  The majority of these lithographs featured Indians, a subject he’d begun exploring two years earlier.  Scholder’s honest, unflinching portrayals of modern Indian life generated a fair amount of controversy when they were initially released.  These images have aged well, however, as even the more abrasive pieces are kindhearted and empathetic in spirit.

“Film Indian” was completed at Tamarind in 1975, five years into his relationship with the printing studio.  Clearly the product of a confident and experienced printmaker, it is instantly identifiable as a Fritz Scholder image.  An Indian man in a feathered headdress is depicted in profile, with his head turned towards the viewer.  His eyes are obscured by what is either a dark shadow or a pair of sunglasses.  The latter is likely, as Scholder’s Indian series—hundreds of paintings and lithographs—included many similarly anachronistic images.

Like many of Scholder’s most striking images, “Film Indian” uses just one color: black.  The bright colors that Scholder used so effectively in his paintings are not needed here, and would likely detract from its power.  Contrasting the black ink dramatically is the white buff Arches paper on which the image is printed.

This is the Bon a Tirer copy, which is the copy selected by the artist to which every other copy must be matched.  This piece is featured on page 141 of Clinton Adams’ Fritz Scholder Lithographs.  It was produced in one color and completed in April 1975 in an edition of 160.   It is mounted with its edges exposed, so that the entire image is visible.  It is signed and labeled Bon a Tirer by the artist.

Condition: this Film Indian - Bon a Tirer proof is in excellent original condition
Provenance: from the large collection of a Santa Fe resident
Recommended Reading: Fritz Scholder Lithographs by Clinton Adams