Annie Oakley from Cowboys and Indians

Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987)

Annie Oakley from Cowboys and Indians

1986

Screen print

L2018.16.1

In 1986, Andy Warhol produced Cowboys and Indians, a series of ten prints depicting legendary figures of the American West—General Custer, pop culture’s eternal cowboy John Wayne, and Geronimo—along with a romanticized portrait of a Native American mother and child and renderings of Native American objects, including a Northwest Coast mask and a Plains Indian shield. Annie Oakley, a sharpshooter in Buffalo Bill Cody’s live performance troupe, was also included. Like other portraits in the series, the image of Annie Oakley was based on a popular photograph, in this case one that had originally appeared as an advertisement for Buffalo Bill’s German tour.

To create Cowboys and Indians, Warhol and his Factory studio assistants produced 36 trial proofs of 14 images in various colors, tonalities, and positions. From these, Warhol selected his favorite versions of the 10 images that constituted the final series and ran an edition (a series of multiple originals) of 250 prints for each image. The Annie Oakley screen print at left was included in the edition, while the print at the right is an unfinished or perhaps discarded version that remained in Warhol’s possession. The editioned print is replete with detail, from the inticate medals pinned to Oakley’s shirt to her individual strands of hair. The unfinished print displays fewer layers of ink than the finished version, most obviously lacking Warhol’s characteristic photo reproduction layer. The result is striking. Simple outlines form Oakley’s face and subtly suggest the medals on her shirt, allowing the viewer to fill in detail or simply appreciate the unrestrained, yet minimalistic, composition of color and line.

Lent by Ralph and Nita Howard

© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.