Fritz Scholder, Luise–o Mission Native Indian, 1937-2005. Arizona, New Mexico, Minnesota. Abstract figure-Indian and animal painting. Similar artists: John W. Nieto, Dan Namingho, T. C. Cannon, Frank Buffalo Hyde. Influenced by: Francis Bacon, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art.

Purple Carnation is dated 1972 and is an oil on canvas painting that is signed upper center and titled and dated on verso. 26 x 16 in., 27.25 x 17.5 in. frame

Private Collection, MN

Scholder studied art at Sacramento State University with Wayne Thiebaud. Scholder is regarded by many as a leader of the New American Indian Art movement. Among his successes were the Smithsonian holding a two-person exhibit of his work with T.C. Cannon in 1972, a solo show at the Heard Museum, being featured in a PBS documentary, teaching at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and over a dozen published books on the artist. Living in Santa Fe and witnessing the alienation of Native Americans had a large impact upon his artwork, thereafter adopting the subject as his theme. His work is described as somber and surreal with swift brushwork. The colors he used were often intense, inspired by Abstract Expressionism. He liked to work in series; Purple Carnation belongs to his Flower series of the 1970s. This painting is a fine example of Scholder's intense Pop-Expressionist palette. As with his figures, the flower is a singular subject centered in the composition and with it's head placed where a face would normally lie. Scholder practiced vigorous paint application in a direct style. Thus many artists are indebted to Scholder today, since he successfully set Native Americans in the present reality through contemporary art style. Keywords: Native American, Native Indian, floral, flower