"In 1967, while teaching at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, Fritz Scholder began a series of controversial, pop-tinged portraits that upended the way American Indians typically had been portrayed."I have painted the Indian real, not red," he wrote.

The Scottsdale, Ariz., artist challenged the vision of the "noble savage" that outsiders sought to impose on Indians as well as the traditionalism that he believed choked Native American art from within.

In so doing, Scholder (1937-2005) sparked a rethinking of what American Indian art could and should be and simultaneously pushed it toward the mainstream of contemporary art.

Five paintings, five original prints and one bronze relief — including four works on loan from two area private collections — are on view in a small, rewarding exhibition in the Denver Art Museum's American Indian galleries."

Get the Story:
Denver Art Museum's "Real" Indians exhibit nearing closure (The Denver Post 5/21)