MONOCULTURE | A Recent History

The American Indian (Russell Means) is a silk-screen painting by Andy Warhol from a series of eighteen he produced in 1976 depicting the American Indian activist and actor Russel Means. Means, who was from the Oglala Lakota people, became widely known for his leadership during the occupation of the South Dakota town of Wounded Knee by the American Indian Movement in 1973. The occupation was in protest against the alleged corruption of the local government as well as their mistreatment of American Indians. The site was symbolic, as Wounded Knee was at the centre of the 1890 massacre of the Sioux by the U.S. Army. The siege between the activists and federal law enforcement lasted 71 days, and was covered widely in the media. In the 1970s, Warhol made many portraits of celebrities and people that he admired across the political and cultural spectrum. Means appealed to Warhol as a figure who sat at the intersection of activism, celebrity and popular culture. The representation of American Indians was a common, and also controversial, subject in Hollywood movies. Warhol’s ‘Pop’ treatment of Means, in traditional dress, reflects how American Indians are part of the distinct American cultural iconography. Ace Gallery in Los Angeles, who first exhibited this series of painting in 1977, contributed $5,000 to the American Indian Movement in exchange for Means’ participation. Means found fame once again decades later for his role as Chingachgook in the Oscar-winning movie, The Last of the Mohicans.