Provenance: Private collection, Colorado Born in Washington and raised on the Crow reservation in Montana, Earl Biss quickly discovered the artist he would become after continuing his art education in Santa Fe and San Francisco, and then traveling to Europe, where he was influenced by the work of Monet and other French Impressionists. Back in the states, Biss studied under fellow Native American artists Fritz Scholder, Charles Loloma and Allan Houser, and received his first solo show with famed Western tastemaker Elaine Horwitch. Sadly, Biss died somewhat young at the age of 51, his rising career cut tragically short. His legacy survives as his paintings continue to be found in major collections around the world. Museum collections include the Heard Museum, Philbrook Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institute, Denver Art Museum and many others. Biss has also been part of a dramatic reappraisal of contemporary Native American art and its role within the larger Western art world. Artists like Scholder, Houser, Oscar Howe, T.C. Cannon and Biss are part of an important group of Indigenous artists whose influence on present-day Western art is unmistakable, further reaffirming the role of Native American artists within all segments of American art.