John Wayne
from Cowboys and Indians
Medium: Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Year: 1986
Sheet: 36×36 inches (91.4 x 91.4 cm)
Edition: 250
Artist’s Proofs: 50 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 15 PP
Hors Commerce: 15 HC
Other: 10 numbered in Roman numerals
Trial Proofs: 36 TP in unique color combination
(see Feldmann & Schellmann IIB.377)
Publisher: Gaultney, Klineman Art, Inc., New York
Printer: Rupert Jasen Smith, New-York
Literature: Feldmann & Schellmann II.377
Signed and numbered in pencil, lower right
With the publisher’s blindstamp and the artist’s copyright inkstamp on the reverse
Some John Wayne prints are unique and dated and marked unique on verso
John Wayne is part of Cowboys and Indians
(Click on picture below to access the Catalogue entry)
John Wayne is a striking and ironic tribute to one of America’s most enduring icons of masculinity and frontier mythology. It exemplifies Warhol’s fascination with celebrity culture and his ability to dissect the myths that underpin American identity.
Created in the twilight of the Cold War, the Cowboys and Indians portfolio emerged during a period of revived patriotism in the United States. Yet rather than offering a straightforward celebration, Warhol’s series reveals a more complicated, layered engagement with history and myth. In John Wayne, the subject is not the real person but the larger-than-life persona forged through decades of Hollywood Westerns. Wayne, who starred in over 80 Western films, had come to symbolize the archetypal American hero—stoic, brave, and unapologetically dominant. Warhol’s choice to include Wayne alongside Native American figures in the same series calls attention to the way American culture has selectively edited and dramatized its own history.
Publicity Photo for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962, Everett Collection
Warhol uses his signature silkscreen technique to powerful effect in this print. John Wayne is depicted in full Western regalia, complete with a cowboy hat, bandana, and pistols drawn, in a stance that is both commanding and theatrical. The source image is a still from the 1962 film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, reinforcing the idea that this is not a portrait of the man, but of the icon he played.
The colors are bold and unrestrained—fiery reds and deep yellows saturate his face and clothing, lending an almost comic-book energy to the composition. The background is white, pushing Wayne to the foreground like a monument. Warhol exaggerates the outlines and shadows with thick black strokes, emphasizing the performative nature of the image. The result is both heroic and artificial: John Wayne appears as a myth made flesh, larger than life but ultimately just an image on paper.
As a western film enthusiast, Warhol was taken with the Wayne and Ford westerns. He directed the 1968 film Lonesome Cowboys, a tongue-in-cheek ode to the western genre inspired by Wayne/Ford collaborations like Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance.
Warhol donned a cowboy hat and boots on set while filming. Warhol’s John Wayne is the most contemporary subject depicted in the series. But rendered alongside historical figures like General Custer, Teddy Roosevelt, and Geronimo appears to comment on the intermingling of fantasy and reality in our understanding of the western frontier.
Warhol’s John Wayne is a meditation on myth-making. By presenting the actor as a cultural construct rather than a biographical subject, Warhol explores how Hollywood, advertising, and the media machine shape collective memory. Today, John Wayne stands as one of the most visually arresting and conceptually complex works in the Cowboys and Indians series. It captures Warhol at his most self-aware—turning the silkscreen into a mirror held up to the nation, where truth and fiction blur under the bright lights of celebrity and spectacle.
Auction Market Overview
Regular Editions
Heritage Auctions: 10 December 2024
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 137,500
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
John Wayne, from Cowboys and Indians (Feldman & Schellmann, II.377), 1986
Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Annotated as outside the published edition
Stamped by The Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board and annotated 127.122 in pencil verso lower right
Artnet Auctions: 10 October 2024
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 175,000
ANDY WARHOL
John Wayne (from Cowboys and Indians), 1986
Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Signed and numbered AP 15/50 in pencil
An artist’s proof aside from edition of 250
Christie’s London: 27 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 120,000
GBP 176,400 / USD 214,025
AUCTION RECORD FOR JOHN WAYNE
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
John Wayne, from: Cowboys and Indians, 1986
Screen-print in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Signed in pencil, inscribed AP 8/50
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 250
Rago: 11 January 2023
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 150,000
USD 201,600
John Wayne, from Cowboys and Indians (Feldman & Schellmann II.377), 1986
Screen-print on Lenox Museum Board
Inscribed to lower right ‘Unique’
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 90,000
USD 150,000
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987, American)
John Wayne from the Cowboys and Indians portfolio, 1986
Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Signed and annotated in pencil at the lower right: UNIQUE Andy Warhol
Numbered HC 12/15 in pencil, verso
This unique version of Andy Warhol’s John Wayne comes from the estate of John Wayne’s daughter, Melinda Wayne Munoz. Previously owned by the Estate of John Wayne, this print was acquired from the artist under an interesting set of circumstances that date back to the 1980s. Upon his death in 1979, the rights to use John Wayne’s name and reproduce his likeness were transferred to a partnership managed by the family, with a royalty paid to his estate and profits donated to charity. Warhol, who used a press shot for Wayne’s 1962 film “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” as the basis for his screenprint, never sought formal approval to use the image before releasing his Cowboys and Indians portfolio starting in 1986. The artist’s son, Michael Wayne, first encountered the work by chance in a New York Gallery. After negotiations to license the image were unsuccessful, John Wayne’s children filed a lawsuit against the artist to recover any profits obtained from his unauthorized use of the image. Warhol, seeking to limit his legal exposure in the matter, had all remaining examples of the print recalled by The Factory – including prints that had already been purchased. These works had the edition number removed, and Wayne’s scarf or pistol were re-colored in one-off color variations before being inscribed “Unique” at the bottom right corner. Although Warhol was unsuccessful in re-editioning every example of his “John Wayne” print, his effort to transform each piece into a unique object meant that they could not legally be defined as a “product” which provided the artist with some protections against copyright infringement. However, in addition to re-numbering each “John Wayne” print from the “Cowboys and Indians” portfolio, the Warhol Foundation also gifted his other prints to the Wayne Family as part of a broader legal settlement.
Hindman: 29 September 2021
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 112,500
ANDY WARHOL (1928–1987)
John Wayne (from Cowboys and Indians), 1986
Screen-print
Signed and numbered 211/250 in pencil
Bonhams Los Angeles: 28 September 2021
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 90,000
USD 137,812
John Wayne, from Cowboys and Indians (Feldman & Schellmann II.377), 1986
Screen-print on Lenox Museum Board
Mallet Japan: 17 May 2018
Estimated: JPY 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
JPY 6,800,000 (Hammer)
JPY 7,922,000 / USD 71,500
John Wayne, 1986
Unique screenprint
Altermann Galleries: 11 August 2017
Estimated: USD 45,000 – 65,000
USD 81,600
ANDY WARHOL (1928–1987)
John Wayne (from Cowboys and Indians), 1986
Screenprint in colors on Museum Board
Signed and numbered 150/250 in pencil
Freeman’s: 23 May 2017
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 40,000
USD 62,500
ANDY WARHOL (American, 1928-1987)
John Wayne (from Cowboys and Indians), 1986
Color screenprint on Lenox Museum Board
Edition PP 2/15
Signed in pencil
Phillips New-York: 18 April 2017
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 40,000
USD 62,500
Screenprint in colors, on Lenox Museum Board, the full sheet.
Signed and inscribed ‘unique’ in pencil
(from the edition of 250 and 50 artist’s proofs)
Christie’s New-York: 1 March 2017
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 62,500
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
John Wayne, from Cowboys and Indians, 1986
Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Signed in pencil, numbered 199/250
Trial Proofs
John Wayne (Unique TP), 1986
Sotheby’ New-York: 28 April 2020
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 40,000
TRIAL PROOF
ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
JOHN WAYNE (SEE FELDMAN & SCHELLMANN II.377) from Cowboys and Indians, 1986
Screenprint in a unique color combination on Lenox Museum Board
Bearing a spurious signature in pencil and the following notation in another hand ‘Unique TP’
A trial proof aside from the numbered edition of 250 plus 50 artist’s proofs
John Wayne (TP 36/36), 1986
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 106,250
TRIAL PROOF
John Wayne (from Cowboys and Indians), 1986
Unique screenprint on Lenox Museum Board
Signed and inscribed TP 36/36 in pencil lower right
A Trial Proof aside from the edition of 250
John Wayne (TP 23/36), 1986
Estimated: USD 35,000 – 45,000
USD 75,000
TRIAL PROOF
ANDY WARHOL
John Wayne (F. & S. II.377), from Cowboys and Indians, 1986
Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Signed in pencil and inscribed ‘TP 23/36’
A unique color trial proof, aside from the numbered edition of 250
John Wayne (TP 9/36), 1986
Christie’s New-York: 1 May 2013
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 56,250
TRIAL PROOF
ANDY WARHOL
John Wayne, from Cowboys and Indians (see F. & S. IIB.377), 1986
Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Signed in pencil, numbered ‘TP 9/36’
A unique trial proof, the edition was 250 plus 50 artist’s proofs