Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Where Is John Lennon When We Need Him?, 2003
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
French-Cree / Shoshone / Salish, 1940 - 2025
Where Is John Lennon When We Need Him?, 2003
lithograph on Rives BFK, edition 6 of 6 (edition of 30 + 6 roman numerals)
editioned lower left: VI/VI
signed lower right: Jqts Smith
Tamarind chop lower left
artist's + printer's chops lower center and right
inscribed verso: 03810 / Rives BFK
collaborating printer: Lee Turner
edition printer: Bill Lagattuta
25 x 19 in. (63.5 x 48.3 cm.)
Private Collection
Literature:
Tamarind Institute Online Catalogue Raisonné, No. 03-810
"Where is John Lennon?" folds a pop-cultural touchstone into Smith’s broader project of collage-like, text-and-icon lithography using a famous name to probe memory, loss, and American cultural narratives through an Indigenous lens.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was a groundbreaking Native American painter, printmaker, curator, and activist and an enrolled citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Raised on the Flathead Reservation in Montana, she developed a distinctive visual language combining abstraction, maps, commercial imagery, text, and Indigenous symbols to address land, colonialism, environmental stewardship, and contemporary Native identity. Smith was also an influential advocate and curator who created greater visibility for generations of Indigenous artists. Her five-decade career was celebrated in the Whitney Museum’s major 2023 retrospective, Memory Map.
Condition
A condition report for this lot is available upon request (please include the lot number in your request) and is provided by Santa Fe Art Auction as a courtesy and convenience for potential buyers.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith
French-Cree / Shoshone / Salish, 1940 - 2025
Where Is John Lennon When We Need Him?, 2003
lithograph on Rives BFK, edition 6 of 6 (edition of 30 + 6 roman numerals)
editioned lower left: VI/VI
signed lower right: Jqts Smith
Tamarind chop lower left
artist's + printer's chops lower center and right
inscribed verso: 03810 / Rives BFK
collaborating printer: Lee Turner
edition printer: Bill Lagattuta
25 x 19 in. (63.5 x 48.3 cm.)
Private Collection
Literature:
Tamarind Institute Online Catalogue Raisonné, No. 03-810
"Where is John Lennon?" folds a pop-cultural touchstone into Smith’s broader project of collage-like, text-and-icon lithography using a famous name to probe memory, loss, and American cultural narratives through an Indigenous lens.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was a groundbreaking Native American painter, printmaker, curator, and activist and an enrolled citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Raised on the Flathead Reservation in Montana, she developed a distinctive visual language combining abstraction, maps, commercial imagery, text, and Indigenous symbols to address land, colonialism, environmental stewardship, and contemporary Native identity. Smith was also an influential advocate and curator who created greater visibility for generations of Indigenous artists. Her five-decade career was celebrated in the Whitney Museum’s major 2023 retrospective, Memory Map.
Condition
A condition report for this lot is available upon request (please include the lot number in your request) and is provided by Santa Fe Art Auction as a courtesy and convenience for potential buyers.
