Andy Warhol General Custer 1986 portrays the Civil War figure in his personalized uniform. This work is mostly comprised of red, white, and blue, as well as some gold details, emphasizing his American identity. His persona is alienating and aloof as he crosses his arms and looks away.

Andy Warhol’s General Custer emphasizes Custer’s relationship with the United States army. He is especially known for The Battle of Little Bighorn, when Custer led his forces against a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne tribes led by Sitting Bull. By including General Custer in his Cowboys and Indians series, which includes an additional work of Sitting Bull, Warhol highlights this battle and the tensions between the army and Native Americans. By juxtaposing him with popular figures associated with an idealized version of the American West, such as John Wayne and Annie Oakley, Warhol’s General Custer also explores his posthumous legacy of fame; though his war associations are now admonished, he was once regarded as a military hero and paintings of him used in advertising campaigns propelled him to fame.

Created in 1986, Andy Warhol General Custer, 1986 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 250, published by Gaultney, Klineman Art Inc., New York and printed by Rupert Jason Smith, New York.

Andy Warhol Cowboys and Indians Series:

Andy Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians series of 1986 consists of ten prints each depicting their own respective subject—John Wayne, Annie Oakley, Kachina Dolls, Geronimo, Buffalo Nickel, Tonto, Theodore Roosevelt, General George Custer, Plains Indian Shield, and Northwest Coast Mask. Featuring images of famous American Western icons, Warhol’s series explores the relationship between Native Americans and Hollywood's portrayal of them in Western films. Warhol, being fascinated with celebrity culture, uses these famous figures to examine ways in which fame and popular culture intersect with history and myth.

The Cowboys and Indians series was also created during a time at which Warhol was exploring his own Native American heritage. His mother was of Ruthenian and Carpatho-Rusyn descent, but Warhol claimed that his father was of Slovakian and Native American ancestry.

Overall, the Cowboys and Indians series reflects Warhol's interest in American culture and history, as well as his fascination with celebrity and the intersection of art and commerce.

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, Buffalo Nickel, Action Picture, Northwest Coast Mask, Plains Indians Shield, Mother and Child, Indian Head Nickel, and Teddy Roosevelt.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Andy Warhol General Custer, 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, 4^th Ed. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2003. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. IIB.379.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Andy Warhol General Custer, 1986 is framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, artist name title, year is presented in a complementary moulding and optical grade Plexiglas.