Fritz Scholder: Native American Artist

A representation that is easily promoted in film and other media outlets, using this ideal character to dramatize stories, or history to sway the sympathies of the viewer. In reality American Indians were victims of assimilation, or annihilation and in the famous reservation program.
             Historically speaking after the initial encounter with the western world Native Americans were forced to deal with the reality of the invading white man, and what effect he would have on their life, and survival. As most of us know, extinction and assimilation became the fate of many American Indian tribes, while the survivors were left to pick up the pieces struggling to maintain their heritage and cultural identity. Whilst the historic American Indians were focused on the necessities of survival, i.e. food, water shelter holding onto the land they occupied for years before the settlers, the modern Indian now copes with the repercussions of the actions of the generations before him both western and native. .
             Maintaining their cultural history and identity is a key focus of many tribes today, as well as battling the image that western society has put upon them. Native American art is an important tool used to voice the ideas they hold of themselves and their identity, and how they want the western world to view them. Because western stereotypes and concepts of the Native American begin with the discovery of the Native American it's important to understand the two perceptions of this encounter. Excellent examples of this are two sketches by Jamake Highwater, one done from the Native's perspective and the other from the western explorers. The former depicts the explorers' arrival as surprising, a few Native boys happen to be near the beach on the day the westerners arrive surprised by the monstrous ships, that appear to them to be barren, mutilated trees, carrying bizarre colored men with strange clothing and bearded faces.