Champion of Diversity F. Winold Reiss’s Plenty Treaties Leads Upcoming Western & Contemporary Native American Art Auction at Hindman

Champion of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity F. Winold Reiss believed that an artist must travel to find interesting subjects. His pastel on paper titled Plenty Treaties, from circa 1943, is available in the upcoming Western & Contemporary Native American Art Auction, offered by Hindman. Winold Reiss (1886 – 1953) was a German-American artist, graphic designer, and portraitist. He moved from Germany to the United States in 1913. After exploring the U.S., he was able to follow his interest in Native Americans, working for a lengthy period on the Blackfeet Reservation. The available painting portrays a Blackfeet leader in traditional dress, sitting at ease on a buffalo robe, conveys solidity and strength suggestive of endurance. Reiss painted more than 250 works of Native Americans during his career. His artworks thrive on diversity and are considered cultural assets.

Ed Mell’s Vaulting Clouds, a 1993 oil on canvas, signed, titled and dated on verso, is another lot that colorfully represents the Western and contemporary themes of the auction. Mell (b. 1942) is an American painter inspired by the Colorado Plateau and Sonoran Desert. The ever-changing skies and landscapes within this region are subjects Mell describes with sophistication of design and palette. Mell’s works are in many public and private collections like Tri-Star Pictures, Phoenix Art Museum, Kartchner Caverns State Park, Diane Keaton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Babbitt. The sale also offers sculptures of the West by Ed Mell. Visit Hindman for more information on the upcoming Western & Contemporary Native American Art auction.