On View
Not on viewObject number1992/3.16
General Custer
Artist
Andy Warhol
(American, 1928-1987)
Date1986
Mediumscreenprint
Dimensionsimage: 35 × 35 in. (88.9 × 88.9 cm)
frame: 42 3/4 × 42 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (108.6 × 108.6 × 3.2 cm)
frame: 42 3/4 × 42 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (108.6 × 108.6 × 3.2 cm)
Credit LineArt Auction Fund
Exhibition HistoryUnknown Exhibition from KIA Permanent Collection, Art Center of Battle Creek (Jan. 22 - Mar. 28, 2001).
"Large Format Works on Paper," KIA Galleries 3&4 (June 27 - Sept. 2, 2003).
"Highlights of the KIA Permanent Collection, (purchased with Auction funds)," KIA Gallery 5 (Sept. 9 - Oct. 14, 2006).
Double Take: Artists Respond to the Collection, KIA, August 23, 2014 - January 18, 2015.
"Unmasking Masculinity for the 21st Century," KIA Galleries 2-5 (September 24, 2022 - December 29, 2022)
Label TextAndy Warhol’s reappropriation of renowned Civil War photographer Mathew Brady’s 1860s-era photograph of General Custer is curious. Custer, best known for his military campaigns against the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne nations between 1866 to his death in 1874 at the Battle of Little Bighorn, is a controversial historical figure. Shown in profile, a popular pose of the era associated with phrenology—a pseudoscience used to assert white superiority—Warhol grounds the [in]famous general against a black background, tints his gloves bright blue, and accentuates Custer’s uniform with gleaming gold buttons and bars. However, Warhol has starkly outlined and contoured Custer’s figure, uniform, hat, face, and hair in deep shades of red.
For some, Custer is a celebrated war hero. For others, he is a symbol of American conquest and Indigenous displacement. Warhol’s image asks viewers to question the people we elevate to celebrity, and instead consider if their actions are actually worthy of celebration. [Label for "Unmasking Masculinity for the 21st Century", 2022]
