Provenance: Old Hat Auctions, Houston, TX, 2005 Private collection, Colorado John Nieto famously painted his Native American subjects abstract enough to render their individual tribes obscure and mysterious. The idea was to paint them as if they were from one universal tribe united by their similar customs and symbolism. “I am painting a person, but I am painting much more than that,” the artist said, adding that his art “is the result of an emotional involvement with my subject matter rather than a cerebral one.” That is evident here in Chief, a large painting that shows his loose adherence to fauvism, the modern art movement that prioritizes bold brushstrokes and powerful color over realistic representation. Born in Colorado, Nieto went to school in Texas and then established a studio in New Mexico. During his career, he exhibited at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.; he met President Reagan in the Oval Office; presented work at the Salon d’Autumn at the Grand Palais in Paris; and received the New Mexico Governor’s Award of Achievement. His work was respected during his lifetime, but his colorful paintings of Native Americans—compared favorably to the work of Matisse, T.C. Cannon and Fritz Scholder—have seen renewed interest in the years since his 2018 passing. Today, Nieto is regarded as an early and important figure in the contemporary Western art movement of the late-20th century.