Kachina Dolls, 1986

Created in 1986 as part of his final major series Cowboys and Indians, Kachina Dolls reflects Andy Warhol’s enduring fascination with American iconography and mythmaking. Kachina dolls—traditional Hopi ceremonial figures representing spiritual beings—are transformed through Warhol’s signature Pop vocabulary into bold, flattened, graphic images. By isolating the subject against vibrant color fields, Warhol both celebrates and reframes the object, shifting it from ethnographic artifact to contemporary cultural symbol. As with much of his work, the piece invites viewers to question how imagery is circulated, commodified, and absorbed into mainstream visual culture.

Executed as a screenprint on Lenox Museum Board, Kachina Dolls measures 36 × 36 inches (91.4 × 91.4 cm.) and is signed and numbered from an edition of 250. The square format amplifies its visual symmetry and impact, while the crisp silkscreen technique—layered inks, sharp contours, and high-contrast color—underscores Warhol’s mastery of mechanical reproduction as fine art. Produced just one year before his death in 1987, this work carries particular significance within his oeuvre, representing a late-career meditation on identity, heritage, and the construction of the American narrative. Today, Kachina Dolls stands as a striking example of Warhol’s ability to transform culturally loaded imagery into timeless Pop icons.