Andy Warhol, Indian Head Nickel, from the Cowboys and Indians Series, 1986

Artist: Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987)
Title:Indian Head Nickel, from the Cowboys and Indians Series, 1986
Reference:FS IIB.385
Series:Cowboys and Indians Series, 1986
Medium:Color Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board
Image Size:36 in x 36 in (91.4 cm x 91.4 cm)
Sheet Size:36 in x 36 in (91.4 cm x 91.4 cm)
Framed Size:Approx. 44 13/16 in x 44 13/16 in (113.8 cm x 113.8 cm)
Edition:A unique trial proof from the edition of 36, aside from the numbered edition of 250. Each print is unique; published by Gaultney, Klineman Art, Inc., New York; printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, New York.
Signature:This work is hand signed by Andy Warhol (Pennsylvania, 1928 – New York, 1987) in pencil in the lower left.
Condition:This work is in excellent condition.
ID #w-7543

Historical Description

Andy Warhol Indian Head Nickel, 1986 depicts one side of the five-cent piece designed by James Earle Fraser distributed between 1913 and 1938. The side of the coin shown portrays the profile of a Native American man. The coin is comprised of hues in blues, red and yellow. Details that would have been embossed on the original coin, such as the man’s facial features and the word “LIBERTY,” are outlined in bright blue, raising them to the forefront of the image.

The coin’s image of a man is not of a specific person, but is instead meant to be a composite of multiple Native people. As part of the Cowboys and Indians series, Andy Warhol’s Indian Head Nickel questions the appropriation of Native American images and the ways in which they are propagated. By placing this generic image in a series that also features images of specific Native individuals, such as Sitting Bull and Geronimo, Andy Warhol’s Indian Head Nickel highlights the tensions between individualized Native American identity and perceptions of a generalized Native American identity in American culture.

Created in 1986, this color screenprint on Lenox Museum Board is hand signed in the lower left corner in pencil. It is a unique work of an edition of 36, aside from the numbered edition of 250, published by Gaultney, Klineman Art Inc., New York and printed by Rupert Jason Smith, New York.

This screenprint is part of a portfolio of works Warhol created in 1986 titled Cowboys and Indians. Other works in the Cowboys and Indians Series include General CusterSitting BullKachina DollsGeronimoAnnie Oakley, War Bonnet Indian, Buffalo Nickel, Action Picture, Northwest Coast Mask, Plains Indians Shield, Mother and ChildTeddy Roosevelt, and John Wayne.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Andy Warhol Indian Head Nickel, from the Cowboys and Indians Series, 1986 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

1. Feldman, Frayda and Jörg Schellmann. Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962 – 1987, 4th Ed. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2003. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. IIB.385.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, artist name title, year is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.