Indian on Horse No 3 (First State) by Fritz Scholder

Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) was an American painter and printmaker of Luiseño Indian descent.  Scholder’s complicated relationship with his own ethnicity served as the inspiration for some of his greatest works.  The early 1970s was a period of discovery and growth for Scholder, as he entered into a working relationship with Albuquerque’s Tamarind Institute and began exploring lithography.  Scholder had a keen eye for color and unique way of creating compositions that confidently walked the line between representational and abstract.

This lithograph was created with just three colors: purple, black, and a rich reddish-brown.  Scholder uses the purple sparingly and allows the off-white paper to peek through the ink in spots, turning what would otherwise be a triangular black mass into a beautiful portrait of an Indian on a horse.  A thin purple outline around the edges of the image adds just the right amount of color. Outside of this purple outline, Scholder numbered and signed the lithograph.

This image is pictured on page 94 of Clinton Adams’ Fritz Scholder Lithographs.  It was completed in July 1973 in an edition of 100 copies.  This is #74 of 100.   The master printer was Ben Q. Adams. The lithograph was executed at Tamarind Institute, the renowned lithography workshop in Albuquerque that is affiliated with the University of New Mexico.

Provenance: this Indian on Horse No 3 - First State is from a collection of a client from Houston, Texas

Condition: original condition

Recommended Reading: Fritz Scholder Lithographs by Clinton Adams