Fritz Scholder Lithograph “Buffalo and Mate” (First State) [SOLD]

This lithograph by Fritz Scholder is titled “Buffalo and Mate.”  It is a three-color print that was completed in July 1973.  Scholder’s subject here is a pair of buffaloes travelling up a slight hill.  Scholder used his three colors wisely, creating a very strong image using just black, dark blue, and a warm red.  The buffaloes are made of black, with the paper’s cream color showing through to define certain details.  That same black continues down the bottom two thirds of the image. It is combined with sparingly applied lines of dark blue and spots of warm red.  That same red frames the scene and creates a dramatic Southwestern sky behind the buffaloes.  By the time this piece was completed, Scholder had been practicing lithography for three years.  It is evident in the way he combined and layered multiple colors that he had become skilled and confident by this time.  “Buffalo and Mate” is a sweet and beautiful image from one of the most significant Native artists of the twentieth century.

The lithograph is signed and marked with the chop marks of Tamarind, Scholder, and Ben Q. Adams.  It is numbered 96/112.  It is framed under a wide off-white mat in a wood frame.  This is the first of two states.  A second state was completed using just black.  These two images are pictured on pages 98 and 99 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 "Buffalo and Mate" (First State) is from the large collection of a Santa Fe family

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