Fritz Scholder (1937–2005) was a Native American artist. Born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, Scholder was Luiseño, a California Mission tribe. Scholder's most influential works were post-modern in sensibility and somewhat Pop Art in execution as he sought to deconstruct the mythos of the American Indian. A teacher at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe in the late 1960s, Scholder influenced a generation of Native American students.
A prolific painter, sculptor, lithographer, teacher, mentor and bookmaker; Fritz Scholder is considered to have changed Native American art forever though he didn't consider himself part of Native America. He knew from a very early age when he sold his first painting to a grade-school friend for four dollars that he wanted to be an artist.
Portrait from the National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian Institution, a gift of Ken Rosenthal
