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Indian in a Corner
Indian in a Corner
Indian in a Corner

Indian in a Corner

Artist Fritz Scholder 1937 Breckenridge, Minnesota - 2005 Phoenix, Arizona
Date1970
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions40 1/2 × 30 1/2 × 1 1/2 in. (102.9 × 77.5 × 3.8 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, gift of Ray Graham
Object numberPC2020.8.35
DescriptionA painting of an distorted male figure seated in a corner of an ambiguous interior space. He wears an orange mask with a pained expression, and white fringe hanging from the bottom. Yellow fabric is wrapped around the figure's waist like a blanket. The left wall and floor are dark violet, while the right wall is a dark olive-green color.
On View
Not on view
Collections
  • Fritz Scholder in Frankfurt, Germany
Text Entries

Ingenio, humor y sátira

25 Junio 2022 – 29 Enero 2023


Fritz Scholder pasó buena parte de su carrera dibujando personas indígenas de formas que desafiaban los estereotipos románticos. A menudo, Scholder creaba una parodia directamente de las fotografías o las obras de artistas como Frederick Remington, rechazando los estereotipos que algunos artistas, incluido Remington, promovían. Indian in a Corner quizá estuviera sacado (o no) de una fotografía, pero independientemente de ello, Scholder saca a esta figura totalmente de contexto y la sitúa en un lugar interior oscuro que resulta surrealista y desconcertante. La figura aparece sentada pero no en una silla, lo que hace la imagen aún más inusual. La obra Scholder hace evidente la fetichización de la iconografía asociada a los pueblos indígenas y se niega a presentar a sus sujetos indígenas en situaciones falsas e idealizadas.

Exhibition: Wit, Humor, & Satire

on view June 25, 2022 - January 29, 2023


Fritz Scholder spent much of his career depicting Indigenous peoples in ways that challenged romantic stereotypes. Often Scholder would create a parody directly from photographs or works by artists such as Frederick Remington, pushing against the stereotypes that artists including Remington promoted. Indian in a Corner may or may not have been sourced from a photograph, but regardless, Scholder takes this particular figure completely out of context, placing it in a dark interior that is surreal and disorienting. The figure appears to be seated, but there is no chair, adding to the unusual nature of the image. Scholder’s work makes evident the fetishization of imagery of Native peoples by refusing to present his Indigenous subjects in idealized and false scenes.