RMAC / CURRENT EXHIBITIONS / FRITZ SCHOLDER

Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) was an internationally known catalyst for contemporary American Indian painting. As a self-proclaimed “non-Indian Indian,” Scholder was one-quarter California Mission Indian (Luiseno) who was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, and grew up as a non-Indian in North Dakota.

Scholder’s early heroes were Picasso, Goya, Matisse, Bonnard, and Baskin. Combining his interests in abstract expressionism, surrealism, and pop art, Scholder was able to forge a whole new approach to Indian art that shocked traditional Indian people and reinterpreted Indian sensibilities for the general public.

The lithographs in this exhibition, drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection, were created between 1970 and 1978 at the Tamarind Institute—a prestigious printing shop that began in Los Angeles and moved to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Scholder was the first artist to print at the Albuquerque shop in 1970 and returned each year through 1981.







Fritz Scholder: Breaking Away Interweavings: The Art of Howard Cook and Barbara Latham Shared Sensibilities The Art of Empty Space: Vessels from the RMAC Permanent Collection Roswell Artist-in-Residence: David Politzer Roswell Artist-in-Residence: Weronika Zaluska West of Beyond: The Rogers and Mary Ellen Aston Collection of the American West Robert H. Goddard Collection of Liquid Propellant Rocketry Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth Collection The Art of Northern New Mexico Back to index	Fritz Scholder: Breaking Away Graphics Gallery June 9, 2007 - August 2008
	Fritz Scholder, Bicentennial Indian, 1975, color lithograph on paper. RMAC Permanent Collection.
		Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) was an internationally known catalyst for contemporary American Indian painting. As a self-proclaimed “non-Indian Indian,” Scholder was one-quarter California Mission Indian (Luiseno) who was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, and grew up as a non-Indian in North Dakota. Scholder’s early heroes were Picasso, Goya, Matisse, Bonnard, and Baskin. Combining his interests in abstract expressionism, surrealism, and pop art, Scholder was able to forge a whole new approach to Indian art that shocked traditional Indian people and reinterpreted Indian sensibilities for the general public. The lithographs in this exhibition, drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection, were created between 1970 and 1978 at the Tamarind Institute—a prestigious printing shop that began in Los Angeles and moved to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Scholder was the first artist to print at the Albuquerque shop in 1970 and returned each year through 1981.