Andy Warhol, Buffalo Nickel, from the Cowboys and Indians Series, 1986 |
|
| Artist: | Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Buffalo Nickel, from the Cowboys and Indians Series, 1986 |
| Reference: | FS IIB.374 |
| 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: | Numbered from the edition of 36 in pencil in lower right. 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 right. |
| Condition: | This work is in excellent condition. |
| ID # | w-6781 |
Andy Warhol Buffalo Nickel, 1986 depicts a five-cent piece originally designed by the sculptor James Earle Fraser that was distributed between 1913 and 1938. Warhol’s depiction of the coin face is surprisingly muted, using gray hues fairly similar to the coin’s original color. The edges of the coin itself are cut off in this piece, making it clear that the buffalo is the center of attention.
Warhol places this coin in relation to imagery that expresses the myth of the American West in popular culture as part of the Cowboys and Indians series. The buffalo fits into this theme nicely — it was considered a uniquely American symbol, and the specific buffalo on the Buffalo Nickel was modeled after “Black Diamond,” a buffalo on display at the New York Central Park Zoological Garden. Andy Warhol’s Buffalo Nickel brings to light the extent of American fascination with an idealized conception of the West by appropriating American symbols — the buffalo, as well as the currency itself — to explore the ways that this idea was conceived and disseminated.
Created in 1986, Andy Warhol’s Buffalo Nickel is a color screenprint on Lenox Museum Board and is hand signed in the lower right corner in pencil. It is a unique work of an edition of 36, 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 Custer, Sitting Bull, Kachina Dolls, Geronimo, Annie Oakley, War Bonnet Indian, Action Picture, Northwest Coast Mask, Plains Indians Shield, Mother and Child, Indian Head Nickel, Teddy Roosevelt, and John Wayne.
Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Andy Warhol Buffalo 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.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.
About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Andy Warhol Buffalo Nickel, from the Cowboys and Indians Series, 1986 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.
