Andy Warhol

Ace Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection, Los Angeles
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Los Angeles, Ace Gallery, 1976

This work is in very good condition overall. There is very slight wear and loss to the corners as is common with Warhol's paintings. On the left edge, there is a spot of paint loss and canvas wear located 17 ½ in. down from the upper left corner. There is faint soiling from handling at the center of the right edge and in the figure's pink shoulder on the lower left edge (4 to 9 in. up from the bottom). In the pink shoulder, there are 3-4 scattered instances of light brown spot accretions and faint short drips. Under ultraviolet light related drip accretions are visible and scattered in the upper left half of the canvas as well. Under ultraviolet light, there are no apparent restorations. This work is framed in a blonde wood strip frame with a small float.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Russell Means has been described by the LA Times as "the most famous American Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse." He became a prominent figure in the American Indian Movement beginning in the late 1960s, particularly as a leader in their occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973. Wounded Knee was the site of the last armed conflict between the Sioux Nation and the United States Army in 1890. The occupation of this potent symbolic venue lasted 71 days and protested the conditions of the Pine Ridge Reservation, one of America's most impoverished counties. United States Marshalls cordoned the town for the entire duration of the occupation, and though the Wounded Knee incident ended peacefully, it was followed by a period of great violence and turmoil. While Russell Means continued his activism on behalf of his fellow American Indians, he later turned to acting and, many years following this portrait, he is also known for his role as Chingachgook in the movie, Last of the Mohicans.

Warhol's Mao series, begun in 1973, after a period devoted mostly to film making, represents a return to silkscreen painting for Warhol, and the present work is a result of this artistic homecoming. Like the Mao paintings, here Warhol objectified a political and societal leader with the same celebrity status and cultural awe he treated his early, more glamorous subjects, such as Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, and Elizabeth Taylor. Though compositionally similar to these earlier works, Portrait of an American Indian (Russell Means) is more visually of a piece with the later works of the 1980s, lacking the heightened contrast of prior portraits and featuring geometric blocks of neon color and jaggedly outlined lips and eyebrows.