Indian with One Eye

Artist Fritz Scholder (North American Indian, Luiseño, 1937 - 2005)

Date1972

MediumAcrylic on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 79 7/8 × 68 1/8 × 1 1/4 inches (202.88 × 173.04 × 3.18 cm)

Credit LineGift of Fred L. and Virginia U. Merrill in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Object number2025.91.1

SignedSigned, lower right

On View

Not on view

Terms

DescriptionPainting that depicts a male Indian figure in a frontal, half-length pose; positioned slightly off center. He is covered in an ochre, red and blue striped robe, his face is accented with blue and he wears a single feather in his long hair parted in the center.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Magnificent Gifts for the 75^th, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; February 13–April 4, 2010.

Gallery Label

In Indian with One Eye, Fritz Scholder transforms an historical photographic image into a monumental Pop Art icon, featuring Andy Warhol’s brilliant colors and Wayne Thiebaud’s painterly surfaces. It is one of more than 300 paintings of American Indians created by Scholder between 1967 and 1972.

During an era of political unrest, when members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) demanded their civil rights and reclaimed their cultural identities, Scholder’s depictions of American Indians shattered stereotypical representations of them as noble, tourist-friendly curiosities. Scholder, who was one-quarter American Indian (Luiseño), rarely acknowledged his ethnic heritage, yet is considered one of the most renowned, prolific and influential American Indian artists of the 20th century.

Provenance

The artist, 1972;

Purchased from the Larsen Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ by Fred and Virginia Merrill, 2006;

Their promised gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2010;

Promised gift conversion, 2025.

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