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Indian with Feather

Arts of the Americas

What is Native American art and who is a Native American artist? The artist Fritz Scholder referred to himself as a non-Indian Indian, someone who never felt the pull of two different cultures. With this lithograph series he challenges popular stereotypical depictions of Indians as stoic, noble, pure, and the embodiment of wisdom. Instead, he offers an amorphous human form, showing only a scruffy face with an open mouth, though the hint of a warrior breastplate, the wrapped braids, and the sharply angled feather suggest a Native American identity. The figure’s tightly wrapped blanket and his turned pose seem to reject empathy from the viewer.
PUBLISHER Tamarind Institute
MEDIUM Lithograph on paper
DATES 1970-1971
DIMENSIONS 30 1/4 x 22 in. (76.8 x 55.9 cm)  (show scale)
MARKINGS Embossed with Tamarind chop lower left and with printers' chops lower center and lower right
SIGNATURE Signed lower center in graphite: "Scholder"
COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas
ACCESSION NUMBER 71.134.2
CREDIT LINE Bristol-Myers Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Fritz Scholder (American and Luiseño, 1937-2005). Indian with Feather, 1970-1971. Lithograph on paper, 30 1/4 x 22 in. (76.8 x 55.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bristol-Myers Fund, 71.134.2. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 71.134.2_PS20.jpg)
EDITION Edition: 37/75
IMAGE overall, 71.134.2_PS20.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024
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RIGHTS STATEMENT © artist or artist's estate
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Fritz Scholder (American and Luiseño, 1937-2005). <em>Indian with Feather</em>, 1970-1971. Lithograph on paper, 30 1/4 x 22 in. (76.8 x 55.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bristol-Myers Fund, 71.134.2. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 71.134.2_PS20.jpg)