Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol’s Lonesome Cowboys

1978

© 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London

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Not on display

Artist: Andy Warhol 1928–1987
Medium: Lithograph on paper
Dimensions: Support: 473 × 397 mm
frame: 540 × 363 × 38 mm
Collection: ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
Acquisition: ARTIST ROOMS Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
Reference: AR00334

Online caption

Throughout his career Warhol made numerous films, many of which were experimental and pushed the boundaries of what was considered acceptable in cinema. Filmed in Arizona in January 1968, ‘Lonesome Cowboys’ was the last film that Warhol directed himself. Originally conceived as a tongue-in-cheek version of the traditional Hollywood western, it was “supposed to be a Romeo-Juliet type story”. Yet it failed to deliver. Critical opinion was divided over many of Warhol’s films and although ‘Lonesome Cowboys’ featured several Warhol ‘superstars’ and followed his extremely popular 1966 film ‘Chelsea Girls’, it is generally considered one of his least successful works. It is particularly renowned for a violent scene which resulted in Warhol being put under FBI surveillance for a year.