Artist's Perspective

Harry Fonseca (Nisenan Maidu, 1946–2006), Gold & Souls (Unknown #), 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum of the American West.

Courtesy of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis

Artist Harry Fonseca (Nisenan Maidu) grew up in California near the American River and Sutter’s Mill, the site where American James Marshall and Nisenan Native Americans found gold deposits in 1848. Almost 150 years later, in 1992, Fonseca began work on The Discovery of Gold and Souls in California series, some of his most politically powerful works. In these relatively small paintings, Fonseca addresses the horrors perpetrated against Native Americans during the mission period and the gold rush. Larry Abbott, who interviewed many Native artists for his book A Time of Vision, observed that “Each of these small mixed-media pieces, measuring about 15" x 11", offer subtle variations on the image of a black cross surrounded by gold leaf and partially covered with red oxide. Fonseca has stated that this series ‘is a direct reference to the physical, emotional and spiritual genocide of the native people of California. With the rise of the mission system, and much later the discovery of gold in California, the native world was fractured, and with it, a way of life and order devastated.’ ”

Fonseca’s paintings are one example of how Native Americans of California today continue to process the history of European and American colonization in California. Fonseca’s art offers us a visual representation of this painful, difficult history and a reminder that Native peoples of California survived despite the high death tolls and extreme adversity that they faced during this time.

Harry Fonseca (Nisenan Maidu, 1946–2006), Gold & Souls (Unknown #), 2016 Harry Fonseca Collection, Autry Museum of the American West.

Courtesy of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis