ANDY WARHOL, Cow, 1976
110 x 75 cm
wallpaper, screen print in red, black and white, framed
dated in print
text: “Copyright Andy Warhol La Biennale 1976”
edition unknown
condition: overal very good to excellent, here not discoloured
€ 2.850,- plus courier costs
inv.AWar 000
‘The iconic Warhol’s print of a cow was first executed in 1966 for his exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York: ‘The idea to use a picture of a cow’s head reportedly stemmed from a comment by the dealer Ivan Karp that no one painted pastoral scenes any more. Warhol’s response was to find a picture of a cow in an old agricultural magazine and have it silkscreened as wallpaper’. Source: TATE Modern, London, UK.
Another source says: ‘Art dealer Ivan Karp proposed Andy Warhol to paint some cows after he claimed that traditional painting was “dead”. Printer Gerard Malanga subsequently came up with some photographs of a cow’s head which were shown to Warhol. This resulted in a series of cow prints, all screen printed on wallpaper between 1966 – 1976’.
This screen print “Cow” (1976) comes with a certificate of authenticity stating that the provenance is from a collection of a neighbour of Andy Warhol. See at The Archive is Limited: “Cow” (black and white) and “Mao” (2 heads, black and white) that were also part of this collection.
Condition details.
Overall the print looks excellent with bright paper colour. A very attractive lived-through wallpaper print! Framed as shown below.
History of prices:
Andrew Jones Auctions, Los Angeles, USA € 5,489.- Cow 1971; brown on blue / 17 July 2024 (hammer price)
Phillips, New York, USA € 10.273,- Cow 1971; brown on blue / 27 June 2024 (hammer price)
Edward Kurstak Gallery, Casselberry, USA € 1.028,95 Cow 1976; red on b&w / June 2024
Bonhams, Los Angeles, USA US$ 15,000.- Cow 1971; brown on blue / 26 March 2024 (hammer price)
Bonhams, Los Angeles, USA US$ 1,912.- Cow 1976; red on b&w / 9 December 2021 incl. premium
Stair Galleries, Hudson NY, USA € 10.124,- Cow 1976; red on b&w / 2 June 2022 incl. premium
Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, France € 3.500,- Cow 1976; red on lemon yellow / 21 January 2021 incl. premium
Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, France € 4.550,- Cow 1976; red on lemon yellow / 21 January 2021 incl. premium
Rosebery’s Hill, London, UK € 4.617,- Cow 1976; dark pink on yellow / 6 October 2020, incl. premium
Quittenbaum, Munich, Germany € 800,- Cow 1976; purple on b&w / 27 June 2019, hammer price
ArtPrice.com € 1.910,- 12 December 2019, Cow 1976, incl. premium
Invaluable € 1500,- 4 December 2018, Cow 1976, hammer price
Prints from 1966:
Phillips, New York, USA € 9.427,- Cow 1966; red on yellow / 21 April 2021 (incl. premium)
Rosebery’s, London, UK € 8.178,- Cow 1966; red on yellow / 9 March 2021 (hammer price)
Phillips, New York, US$ 6,875.- Cow 1966; pink on yellow / 8 June 2011 (hammer price)
Phillips, New York, US$ 5,250.- Cow 1966 (stated as ‘1989’); pink on yellow / 26 April 2008 (hammer price)
More information about ‘Cow’ prints, 1966-1976
There are various kinds of so called Cow prints, with various widths and also publishers. One print run was made in 1966 with a text TRIM Andy Warhol, one in 1971 and another one in 1976.
In 1966, for the first time Andy Warhol produced Cow prints for his exhibition at Gallery Leo Castelli. For the Whitney Museum in New York he made another series of Cow prints. On the edge it reads: Whiney Musuem May 1 – June 13 1971.
For the Venice Biennale 1976 he showed Cow wallpaper produced on behalf of his presentation at the pavilion of the USA. On the brim of each sheet of wallpaper a text reads: Copyright Andy Warhol La Biennale 1976.
The first of the series, Cow, 1966, was published as a wallpaper for an exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery. Repeated imagery of cows on the wall surrounded visitors.
The second screen print of the series features an orange cow against a lilac background. This image was published for a 1971 Warhol exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York.
The third screen print shows a cow that is coloured in bright yellow against a blue background. Of this work 150 copies have been hand signed. The unsigned versions have been authenticated by the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board.
The last screen print of the series shows the cow in light pink against a purple background. This work was published for an exhibition at the Modern Art Pavilion in Seattle, Washington, from November, 1976-January 9, 1977. Prints in various colours have been signed in an unknown edition.
For some reason there is a fifth series of various colour combinations made in 1976, apparently during the time when the fourth series was produced. Several copies have been signed by the artist. See image below.
