Andy Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians

Andy Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians

The Cowboys and Indians are a classic American story. So it comes as no surprise that pop artist Andy Warhol (1928- 1987) paid homage to Americans popular version of Western history through these printing its characters.

The Cowboys and Indians portfolio is made up of ten color screen prints on Lenox Museum Board, each signed in pencil and each an edition of 250. Printed in 1986, this portfolio is noted as one of the artists last works before his death in 1987. This body of work continued Warhol’s examination of mass media and the importance of the ‘icon’ in the modern, advertisement-saturated world.

In the portfolio, the artist interspersed recognizable portraits of well-known American heroes; John Wayne, Annie Oakley, Teddy Roosevelt, and General George Custer–with less familiar Native American images and motifs.

“Rather than portraying Native Americans within their historical landscape or Cowboys in their veritable forms, Warhol chose to portray a popular, romanticized version of the west. Warhol’s rendering of the American West was already an established presentation commonly portrayed in novels, films, and various television series popular during this era.”  
Warhol gathered inspiration from numerous places when creating the portfolio. Annie Oakley and John Wayne were derived from publicity photos and General Custer and Roosevelt were inspired by portraits by Mathew Brady and George Gardner Rookwod respectively. Warhol includes artifacts such as the Plains Indian Shield, Northwestern Coast Mask, and Kachina Dolls. These images were photographed by the artist himself from the archives of the George Gustave Heye Museum of the American Indian in New York City.

Guy Hepner is please to offer Andy Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians portfolio for sale. Inquire via phone or email to purchase limited edition pop prints.