Kachina Dolls 381 by Andy Warhol is a screenprint from his Cowboys and Indians series. In this series, Warhol explores the Old West as an All-American collective history. Pursuing his fascination with the dichotomy between appearance and reality, Warhol’s work is a commentary on mass media and the way in which contrived imagery can affect how a society understands and perceives its history. This print depicts Kachina Dolls, which were commonly made by Native American tribes in the Southwest region of the United States. The dolls were fashioned out of cottonwood root and used in coming of age rituals to instruct young women about the spirits who control the natural world.
Kachina Dolls 381 by Andy Warhol as Part of his Larger Body of Work
The Cowboys and Indians series is exemplary of how Warhol utilized heavily embedded images derived from popular culture. Images like Kachina Dolls 381 represent tokens of native culture, whereas figures like Geronimo and Annie Oakley are based on characters in the Hollywood adaptation of American history, which do not truly represent the roles that these individuals historically played. Rather than portraying Native Americans within their historical landscape, or Cowboys in their veritable forms, Warhol chose to portray a popular, romanticized version of the American West. The West that he chose to represent is familiar to everyone and can be seen in novels, films and TV series. Warhol’s Cowboys and Indians series is an ahistorical representation that mirrors a popular interpretation of the American West.