Lithograph from the Portfolio titled “Indian Self-Rule”

This untitled lithograph by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith comes from a portfolio titled "Indian Self-Rule." For this portfolio, five Native contributed images in service of a larger project devoted to examining "the efforts of the American Indian peoples to attain economic self-sufficiency, political self-rule, social and cultural self-determination, and religious freedom—all rights guaranteed under United States constitutional law, but denied, even today, in all too many instances." The other participating artists were David Bradley, Darren Vigil, N. Scott Momaday, and Randy Lee White. Years later it was discovered that White was not Sioux, as he had claimed to be, but rather a Texan with no Indigenous ancestry.

The Indian Self-Rule images were completed in 1983 at the Sun Valley Center, in editions of fifty. Smith's contribution offers an excellent example of her style as of the early 1980s. Five buffalo appear, with three up above and a pair interacting down below. They float within a background of red, yellow, and pink. Dots and stars decorate the figures, and a variety of interesting tones and textures appear as the result of different ink colors interacting with one another.

According to the comments in the portfolio text, presumably written by or paraphrased from the artist, each color is symbolic: "Yellow representing tanned hide, red for ochre or ‘Indian Red,' black for smoke or charcoal from fire, while blue is used effectively in the stars and stripes."

The lithograph is signed, titled and numbered along the lower border. Chop marks—small marks made with embossing tools to identify print shops, collaborating printers, and sometimes the artists themselves—appear in the lower left and right corners. It is mounted with the entire paper visible in a wood frame that is treated to look like metal.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was born in 1940 on the Confederated Salish Flathead Reservation in St. Ignatius, Montana. She was raised on the Flathead Reservation and spent her early life with her father, who was a horse trader. She draws her inspiration from a wide variety of sources, creating decidedly modern works that celebrate her Native heritage. In recent years, the value, visibility, and prominence of her works have risen meteorically. Most notably, the Whitney Museum of American Art featured a major retrospective exhibit titled Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map.

Condition: excellent condition

Provenance: this Lithograph from the Portfolio titled "Indian Self-Rule" is from the collection of a Santa Fe resident

Recommended Reading: THE AMERICAN WEST: The Modern Vision by Patricia Janis Broder

TAGS: Confederated Salish Flathead Reservation, printmaking, Paintings, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith