OBRA
The American Indian Series
AUTOR
AÑO
1976
TÉCNICA
Offset Litográfico
DIMENSIONES
125 x 87 cm cm / Size with frame: 129 x 95 cm
DESCRIPCIÓN:
Exhibition poster The American indian series, Ace Gallery, 1976
Exhibition poster The American indian series, Ace Gallery, 1976
Unlike most of the portraits that Andy Warhol made after 1970, The American Indian (Russell
Means) is less about immortalizing a celebrity or endowing a well-paying client; the painting
belongs to Warhol’s theme of “big American topics.” In fact, it’s quite unlikely that Warhol himself
chose Means as a portrait subject. Given his famous question to friends and dealers—“Gee,
what should I paint?”—and his tendency to readily follow their suggestions, it’s more probable
that someone at Ace Gallery, Warhol’s West Coast representation in Venice, California, concei
ved the idea. Means theorized that someone at Ace conducted a brief survey among American
Indians in California and Canada asking who they thought should represent their culture today,
and Means was their choice.
