Andy Warhol: Cowboys and Indians

Fascinated by icons of American culture, Andy Warhol explored the Old West as an all-American collective history in his Cowboys and Indians series from 1986.

A testament to his fascination with the genre, the portfolio is historically and politically challenging, critiquing the glorification of colonisation and championing the true heroes of Native America. Pursuing his fascination with the dichotomy between appearance and reality, Cowboys and Indians is a commentary on mass media and the way in which contrived imagery can affect how a society understands and perceives its history. 

Images like Northwest Coast Mask, lot 56 in our Editions auction, and Kachina Dolls, represent tokens of Native American culture, whereas figures like Geronimo, Annie Oakley and Mother and Child are based on characters in the Hollywood adaptation of history. Rather than portraying Native Americans within their historical landscape, or cowboys in their veritable forms, Warhol chose to portray a popular, romanticised version of the American West, familiar to everyone from movies, television, etc.

To create the Native American-inspired prints, Warhol traveled to New York City’s National Museum of the American Indian to photograph a Plains Indian shield, Northwestern Coast mask, and kachina dolls. By stylising these objects in his typical screen printed style, Warhol emphasised the fetishisation of Native American culture.

The series was created during the mid-1980s, arguably Warhol’s most prolific period. During this time he was also forming bonds with a number of younger artists in the New York art scene including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel and David Salle. Released in 1986, Cowboys and Indians is one of the last major series the artist completed before his death in 1987.

About the Auction

Editions is online October 16 – 31 and features prints by Canadian and International artists including Andy Warhol, Marc Chagall, Jean Paul Riopelle, Jack Bush, Alex Colville, René Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Richard Diebenkorn, Robert Motherwell, Alexander Calder, Pierre Bonnard, and Michael Snow, alongside multiples by Victor Vasarely, Joe Fafard, Salvador Dalí, and Yayoi Kusama.

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Previews are available October 28 – 29 between 10 am and 5 pm, and by appointment.

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