Andy Warhol

In 1970 Andy Warhol curated Raid the Icebox 1 at the RISD Museum. That installation included several works on view here. Because Warhol did not display these textiles as garments on mannequins, it separated them from their intended use. In this Polaroid, Warhol recorded Diné textiles in museum storage. The manta at right in this photo is on view behind you.

Diné weaving aesthetics share similarities with American midcentury modern art. Both practices emphasize geometric designs, color, emotional introspection, and complex relationships of positive and negative spaces. Artists including Agnes Martin, Donald Judd, and Andy Warhol collected 19th-century Diné textiles. Warhol once said Diné weaving is “yet another proof that women are the world’s major artists.”