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Lot Essay
For the past forty years, Richard Prince has pursued a strategy of appropriation to uncover some of the most highly-charged imagery in our shared culture. In this, a stunning photograph from his iconic Cowboys series, the artist continues his exploration of the mythic American West. Here, the large-scale cinematic presentation of the lone cowboy, dwarfed by the sheer beauty of the landscape, presents the idea of the rugged individual going at it alone despite insurmountable odds.
The Cowboys were one of Richard Prince’s first major projects, which had its inception in the mid-1970s while he was working at Time magazine. Part of his job required him to sort through stacks of tear sheets (copies of advertisements sent to advertisers as proof of printing), from which he cut out the text so that only the image remained. These glossy magazine ads were naturally seductive, and he became fascinated with the image of the Marlboro man in particular. Prince made subtle changes to the original ad, either cropping or enlarging the imagery, and then re-photographed the result. The earliest Cowboy series were exhibited in the 1980s, and helped to position the artist as one of the leading artists of appropriation art, which became a classic postmodern strategy.
In the present work, the large-scale grandeur of the vast American West is yet another character in the unfolding drama of the artist’s popular Cowboys series. Recalling the great landscape paintings of Edwin Church, Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School, Prince lets the majesty of the rugged countryside speak for itself, which he renders on a panoramic scale stretching six feet in width. Riding his horse at full gallop, a solitary cowboy races across the valley, cutting a trail in his wake. The lone figure, set against such a dramatic landscape, evokes the nineteenth century concept of Manifest Destiny whilst also conveying—paradoxically— man’s insignificance in the midst of such overwhelming natural splendor.
The Cowboys – along with the Nurse paintings, the Girlfriends and the Joke paintings – has become one of Richard Prince’s most iconic, long-running series. He reaches out into the unseen areas of American culture and comes back with off-color jokes and fetishes, which nevertheless ring true in all their crude veracity. With the Cowboys, Prince zeros in on the myths and symbols that define masculinity itself. His portrayal of the rugged, tough cowboy harkens back to a mythic American past, made famous in pulp fiction novels and Sergio Leone films. “The image of the cowboy is so familiar in American iconology that it has to become almost invisible through its normality,” the art critic Rosetta Brooks has explained. “And yet the cowboy is also the most sacred and masklike of cultural figures. In both a geographical and cultural sense, a cowboy is an image of endurance itself, a stereotypical symbol of American cinema” (R. Brooks, ‘Spiritual America: No Holds Barred’, in L. Phillips, Richard Prince, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1992, p. 95)
It has been suggested that the cowboy might represent a self-portrait of sorts, with the artist portraying himself as the rugged individualistic cowboy. "Of all of Prince’s art, the Cowboy works are Prince’s own mask," Rosetta Brooks continued. "[They are] his self-portrait as a regular guy. In other words, as embodiments of ‘untruth,’ they are the most truthful. Or, as Prince might say, they are the most ‘convincing’ picture-perfect dissimulations" (R. Brooks, ibid., 1992, p. 95). Indeed, throughout his ongoing career, Prince continues to mine our collective desires and aspirations, holding them up to the light to reconsider and reveal our true selves.
The Cowboys were one of Richard Prince’s first major projects, which had its inception in the mid-1970s while he was working at Time magazine. Part of his job required him to sort through stacks of tear sheets (copies of advertisements sent to advertisers as proof of printing), from which he cut out the text so that only the image remained. These glossy magazine ads were naturally seductive, and he became fascinated with the image of the Marlboro man in particular. Prince made subtle changes to the original ad, either cropping or enlarging the imagery, and then re-photographed the result. The earliest Cowboy series were exhibited in the 1980s, and helped to position the artist as one of the leading artists of appropriation art, which became a classic postmodern strategy.
In the present work, the large-scale grandeur of the vast American West is yet another character in the unfolding drama of the artist’s popular Cowboys series. Recalling the great landscape paintings of Edwin Church, Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School, Prince lets the majesty of the rugged countryside speak for itself, which he renders on a panoramic scale stretching six feet in width. Riding his horse at full gallop, a solitary cowboy races across the valley, cutting a trail in his wake. The lone figure, set against such a dramatic landscape, evokes the nineteenth century concept of Manifest Destiny whilst also conveying—paradoxically— man’s insignificance in the midst of such overwhelming natural splendor.
The Cowboys – along with the Nurse paintings, the Girlfriends and the Joke paintings – has become one of Richard Prince’s most iconic, long-running series. He reaches out into the unseen areas of American culture and comes back with off-color jokes and fetishes, which nevertheless ring true in all their crude veracity. With the Cowboys, Prince zeros in on the myths and symbols that define masculinity itself. His portrayal of the rugged, tough cowboy harkens back to a mythic American past, made famous in pulp fiction novels and Sergio Leone films. “The image of the cowboy is so familiar in American iconology that it has to become almost invisible through its normality,” the art critic Rosetta Brooks has explained. “And yet the cowboy is also the most sacred and masklike of cultural figures. In both a geographical and cultural sense, a cowboy is an image of endurance itself, a stereotypical symbol of American cinema” (R. Brooks, ‘Spiritual America: No Holds Barred’, in L. Phillips, Richard Prince, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1992, p. 95)
It has been suggested that the cowboy might represent a self-portrait of sorts, with the artist portraying himself as the rugged individualistic cowboy. "Of all of Prince’s art, the Cowboy works are Prince’s own mask," Rosetta Brooks continued. "[They are] his self-portrait as a regular guy. In other words, as embodiments of ‘untruth,’ they are the most truthful. Or, as Prince might say, they are the most ‘convincing’ picture-perfect dissimulations" (R. Brooks, ibid., 1992, p. 95). Indeed, throughout his ongoing career, Prince continues to mine our collective desires and aspirations, holding them up to the light to reconsider and reveal our true selves.