This publication was funded by Kalispel Tribe of Indians©Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA 99258-0001

1I

1FRITZ SCHOLDER LITHOGRAPHSFROM THE COLLECTION OF JOHN MOREY MAURICE

JUNDT ART MUSEUM • GONZAGA UNIVERSITYAUGUST 15 - NOVEMBER 15,2008

Before Scholder, young Indian artists either made traditional art orleft their Indian identity behind in order to be contemporary. The1960s were a turbulent decade for the United States and for youngpeople all across the country. It was the decade of the Beatles, civilrights demonstrations, and the war in Viet Narn. Young Indians werenot immune to the dislocation and change taking place. Scholderdemonstrated that an artist could be Indian and contemporary at thesame time. During his five years at the AlAI Scholder was influencedas much by his students as they were influenced by him. In addition,Scholder exposed his students to a wide variety of painting stylesand influences, ranging from the contained terror of Francis Bacon,the foremost English modernist; the dark paintings and prints of thegreat Spanish artist Francisco Goya; the pop art of Andy Warhol; thecubism of Picasso; and the Abstract Expressionist work of JacksonPollock and Willem de Kooning. As he interacted and bonded withhis students, Scholder came to the realization that "...there is a newIndian art emerging. It will take many forms and will be vital Amerging of traditional subject matter with the contemporary idiomwill give us a truer statement of the Indian."

"I call myself an American expressionist, one who celebrates life inpaint and other media. I am most interested in gesture, color, and anhonest use of material As far as subject matter, every serious artisthas his own subject matter. It is very personal It has to do with hisown life or a statement he wants to make about life."

Since Scholder had not been raised as a tribal Indian on a reservation,he came to his art with a unique perspective. With his first groupof Indian paintings Scholder exploded onto the internationalcontemporary art scene. His imagery was strong, immediate,confrontational. and controversial. Of his first exhibitions Scholderlater recalled with a smile, "News of the work spread like wildfire. I hadto have armed guards at the shows' I had challenged and intimidatedthe non- ative, so-called 'Indian experts" in Santa Fe, and I had alsoangered Indian elders and traditionalists who didn't know what to dowith me. The subject matter was loaded with images that had neverbeen seen. But these weren't things I imagined; I saw them." Theresulting furor over Scheider's works helped launch the New IndianArt Movement and placed the artist in the vanguard of the mostchallenging, interesting, and influential American artists in the second

EMERGENCE OF THE MATURE ARTIST

For his Indian paintings Scholder brought together an extraordinaryfusion of Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, and Pop Art to portrayhis unique vision of the Southwestern scene and the Native experience.

When he arrived in Santa Fe, Scholder "vowed" that he would neverpaint the Indian. He observed that "The non-Indian had painted thesubject as a noble savage, and the Indian painter had been caughtin a tourist pleasing cliche." Instead he painted abstract studies ofthe surrounding country with its brilliant colored sky, mountains,arroyos, and mesas in much the same way as Peter Hurd and GeorgiaO'Keeffe.

Then on a winter evening early in 1967Scholder reached a decision"I decided to paint an Indian. Although I never called myselfan Indian artist, it soon became evident that it was time for a newidiom in Indian painting." He felt that, "The American Indian artistmust step out of the arena of curios into the world of fine objects andexpressive painting."

3 4

half of the 20th century Early in his career, he received support fromthe Rockefeller, Whitney, and Ford Foundations.

Scholder and Tamarind's master printers This collaboration wascelebrated in 1975with a book published by the New York GraphicSociety titled FntzScholder Lithographs.

THE AMERICAN INDIAN SERIES OF PAINTINGS ANDLITHOGRAPHS THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION EXHIBITION

From the beginning Scholder pursued his work in series form. Theimages in the paintings and prints that Scholder created in hisAmerican Indian Series (1967 - 1985) were powerful, outrageous,and frequently confrontational. During this incredibly productiveperiod Scholder made hundreds of paintings and a smaller numberof lithographs on Indian life and history "I work in a trance. I justwait to see what happens. It's truly a sensual activity. You can't makea mistake. If you don't like something you simply paint over it Ipaint until I can't go any further, until the painting defies me to go anyfurther." He depicted soldier Indians on horseback; Indians wrappedin the American flag; Indians performing ceremonial dances; Indianscats' as well as dogs; an Indian sitting in a desolate Gallup, New Mexicobar holding a can of Coors beer; and a massacred Indian with hishead expanding from the impact of the bullet that had just hit him.

In 1972 the Smithsonian Institution mounted an exhibition whichfeatured Scholder and T C. Cannon, a young Kiowa Indian who was oneof his most talented students. The exhibition was titled Two AmericanPainters Fritz Scholder and T C. Cannon. After the exhibition closed inWashington, D.C, it went on a US State Department tour in Europewhere it was accompanied by the two artists. The Smithsonian showand subsequent European tour made Scholder and Cannon the twomost famous Native American artists in the country. Unfortunately,Cannon's brilliant career as a painter was cut short in 1978 when hedied in a car crash at the age of thirty-two.

THE ICONIC MASTER PAINTER

Scholder unmasked and utterly destroyed any number of Indianstereotypes. He proudly stated, "I have painted the Indian real, notred!" Despite his depiction of a tough Indian reality, Scholders workswere not without humor. For example, he painted a massive Indian infull ceremonial dance regalia eating a strawberry ice cream cone. Ina small lithograph he depicted a Crow Indian with the head of a crow.Scholder made the following observation about himself: "I am a non-Indian Indian. I do not feel the pull of the dichotomy of two cultures.However, I am aware of the incongruous nature of the two cultures."

The private Scholder was a shy, gentle, and introspective person. Herecalled that as a small boy "I was real shy, and alii wanted to do wasstay in my room and draw, so I wouldn't have to deal with peopleThis, at the time, was difficult But in retrospect, I always knew whatI had to be. There was never any question. It was all that I could do.

THE TAMARIND INSTITUTE COLLABORATION 1In J970 the Tamarind Institute, one of the leading lithographic fineart printers in the country, moved its entire operation lock-stock-and-barrel from Los Angeles to the campus of the University of NewMexico in Albuquerque. After getting set up in its new home, Tamarindinvited Scholder to be its first "artist in residence" and to create aset of lithograph prints in his American Indian Series. This residencyestablished a long-term, ongoing working relationship between

5 6

JJ, 2002, Scholder advised the graduates, "You must be yourself onpurpose. First, find out who you are and fully accept it Fall in lovewith your life and live with finesse and manners. Be a role model foryourself, and many will be influenced. To truly keep something, youmust give it away.... Reinvent yourself with every day. Each day canbe a new adventure in your quest for truth."

Scholder was frequently asked how he saw himself as an artist Whatfollows are responses he gave through the years:

"The painter is a quiet rebel involved in an act of love whichproduced an object for an unseen audience."

"The act of painting, like most human activity, is at bestparadoxical. Why do I paint? The answer is obvious to thepainter. One paints because one must"

"The responsibility of the artist is to produce a unique visualexperience for himself and the viewer. The artist must makethe subject his own."

Plus, I was a rebel, right from the beginning If someone told me todo something, I'd do the opposite. So I was, in a way, a bad boy inschool, and yet. because I was reserved and because of my talent. Iwas treated pretty nicely, I must say. I sold my first painting in gradeschool to a friend of mine for four dollars. And I sold my secondpainting to a grade school buddy for five dollars and have slowlyworked my way up from there."

"Fine art, if it's the highest form of human integrity, meansself-integrity And when you're in that studio, you must dowhatever you do completely for yourself. And you mustbe your own worst critic. What means that after you'vedone it. you must live with it, decide if it should leave thestudio. Often I destroy the work, either at the moment. orright after I've done it. or days later, or years later. I still willgo into the studio at night and destroy paintings, becausethey're mine."

The adult Scholder reflected on his continued shyness in his polite,gentle manner. At the same time he thrived on and was energizedby controversy. He enjoyed both his fame and his notoriety. Hecreated and perpetuated for himself a flamboyant, larger-than-lifepublic persona that served to protect his more private, inner person.According to his second wife Ramona Scholder, "his approach to lifewas to gorge on life." One of his favorite photographs shows the artistwith his Afghan dog, Dakota, standing alongside his vintage RollsRoyce in the high Arizona desert with a giant Saguaro cactus in thebackground.

Scholder ended his American Indian Series in the mid-J980s and went onto explore other themes and passions in his work. But it is the AmericanIndian Series that brought him instantaneous fame and internationalrecognition. And it is this series for which he is best remembered. Itis through this series that Scholder captured all of the realistic aspectsof contemporary Indian life.

Scholder considered himself to be reborn every day of his life. "Ialways wake up and say, 'Another good day.' I believe that one is adifferent person each day I believe you should have new adventuresevery day, meet new people, bring in new information. If you don't,

At a commencement address at the University of Oklahoma on May87

you're being bad to yourself, because we only have that day, we onlyhave the moment, and it's up to us."

During his final years Scholder spent most of his time at his homeand studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his third wife, Lisa MarkgrafScholder. He recognized that he was a public figure and that thepublic had a large claim on him. He spent a lot of time traveling,making public appearances, and teaching But at the same time hewas a very private person who valued his privacy. Lisa Scholderexplained, "He was very much in the public realm and owned by manyin the public realm, but in private he conducted his life exactly as hewanted. 1cannot remember an occasion when people would just dropby He would invite people, and he made time for them and made itmeaningful. He never lost track of who he was; he never believed hisown press, and for me that is the sign of greatness in a human - thewillingness to share yourself and to be in the moment."

He was always intrigued by death both in life and in his art. He oncestated, "Remember, life is short and death is long." His widow, LisaScholder observed that "he lived life with finesse and manners. Hewas fascinated by death but could not make it go away. He fullyunderstood the fragility of life." Perhaps Scholder said it best in thehe published in 1976 in a book titled Random Thoughts And Memories:

major museums in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

In the fall of 2008 the Smithsonian Institution Museum of the AmericanIndian will mount a major retrospective exhibition of Fritz Scholdersentire body of work in simultaneous exhibitions in Washington,D.C. and New York City.

I sometimes think of deathWhen I am eating cornflakes

In the afternoonIt just kills me to think

That someday I won't be ableTo eat cornflakesIn the afternoon.

John Morey MauriceSpokane, Washington

July 1,2008

In 2000 Scholder began the long battle with the diabetes thatultimately took his life. Most years Scholder celebrated his birthdayby painting a self-portrait. These self-portraits remain in his personalcollection. In one of his last self-portraits Scholder depicted himselfwith an oxygen tank, a small pool of blood on the floor, and his cat.

IMAGES:

Fritz Scholder died at his home in Scottsdale on February 10,2005.

Cover: BI<ckskili Indiall (Second Statel, 1974, Lithograph. 30' x 32', Collection of JohnMorey Maurice

Page 2: Portrait of Fritz Scholder, 1976, Photo by Jack O'Grady Gallery,Chicago.lllinois

Page 6: Silake Dallcers alld Shadows, 1977,Oil on canvas, 68' x 80'.Page 7: Illdian with Featfter Fan, Lithograph, 1975,30' x 22", Collection of lohn Morey

MauricePage 4: Illdian Horse and Rider, 1977.Oil on canvas, 68' x 80'.Page 10: Portrait of Fritz Scholder, 1973 artist-in-residence, Dartmouth College,

Today, Fritz Scho.ders paintings and prints are exhibited allover theworld, and many of his works are in the permanent collections of

9 10