Super Indian

Fritz Scholder (American, 1937-2005) was  one of the first Native Americans to be recognized for his significant contributions as a contemporary artist. A second-generation pop artist, Scholder first challenged cultural stereotypes of American Indians in the late 1960s. He developed a personal, colorfully abstract style that combines pop art with ideas found in expressionism, and his depictions of modern-day Indians revolutionized artistic representations of native peoples. The artist Theodore Waddell observed, Scholder “not only challenged assumptions but moved the needle of understanding.”

Scholder's paintings -- often large scale -- and his works on paper are bold and colorful. The exhibition, which features more than 40 rarely-seen, monumental   paintings and lithographs, breaks ground in examining the ways Scholder attacked stereotypes about Native Americans. Included in the exhibition are items from his initial and controversial Indian Series, begun in 1967. The exhibition concludes with his Indian Land paintings of 1980. Super Indian demonstrates how, in little more than a decade, Scholder worked against tradition and expectations to create contemporary compositions that reshaped the art of the American West. 

A fully-illustrated 5-star companion catalog, Super Indian: Fritz Scholder 1967-1980, includes essays by scholars, artists and collectors.