Fritz Scholder "Portrait of a Werewolf" Lithograph, 1982, Signed Hors Commerce Edition

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A lithograph in colors by Fritz Scholder (1937 to 2005), the Luiseño artist who upended Native American painting and became … Read more A lithograph in colors by Fritz Scholder (1937 to 2005), the Luiseño artist who upended Native American painting and became one of the most collected figures in Southwestern contemporary art. Portrait of a Werewolf belongs to the Barcelona Portraits Suite of 1982, drawn by Scholder and printed on Guarro paper by the master printers of Ediciones Poligráfa, Barcelona.

This impression is hand signed by Scholder in white pencil at lower right and annotated HC 7/10 at lower left. Hors commerce impressions were reserved outside the regular edition of 120, a group of only ten, making this a scarcer example of the image than the standard numbered edition.

The werewolf was part of Scholder's lifelong fascination with monsters, vampires, and the occult, a thread that ran alongside his famous Indian series. Here the creature rises out of slashing blacks against an oxblood field, with strokes of teal and pink, a single red eye, and bared teeth. It is Scholder at his most expressionist, and a rare crossover piece that speaks to collectors of contemporary Native American art and dark figurative work alike. His work is held by the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. See less