Cow 11A by Andy Warhol is a screenprint from the Cow Portfolio. The work shows a close-up Jersey cow in warm brown tones set against a soft blue background. The cow’s eye, muzzle, and halter fill most of the frame, creating an image that feels direct and almost gentle. Warhol uses flat color, bold contrast, and a grainy halftone pattern to turn an ordinary farm animal into a graphic Pop icon.
Origins of the Cow Portfolio
Ivan Karp first suggested that Warhol paint cows, calling them “a durable image in the history of the arts.” This moment marked a shift in Warhol’s work. Earlier projects such as Campbell’s Soup and his celebrity portraits had already challenged the boundaries of fine art. With the Cow Portfolio, Warhol pushed those ideas further by applying his Pop Art style to a traditional rural subject.
Gerard Malanga, one of Warhol’s printers, selected the photograph that became the basis of the series. Warhol then used strong color shifts and large-scale printing to change how viewers experienced the image. As a result, the Cow Portfolio introduced a playful and unexpected subject into Pop Art while keeping the movement’s focus on repetition and bold visual impact.
Cow 11A in Warhol’s Larger Body of Work
Warhol published the Cow Portfolio in 1966 and used its prints as wallpaper for his show at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. The exhibition marked the beginning of his interest in printed wallpaper, which later became one of his defining mediums. He lined entire gallery walls with repeating cow faces, creating an environment that blended art, design, and humor.
Cow 11A stands out for its subdued palette. The brown silhouette against blue suggests storybooks and childhood imagery rather than commercial products. Even so, the print keeps the Pop Art energy that defines the Cow Portfolio. It shows how Warhol could make a simple animal seem modern, stylish, and even iconic.
By choosing a cow—a creature tied to farm labor, food production, and daily life—Warhol broadened the reach of Pop Art. He treated the animal with the same visual force he gave to Marilyn Monroe or Campbell’s Soup. Consequently, Cow 11A suggests that anything familiar, even pastoral, can carry cultural weight once it enters Warhol’s world.
Warhol’s Cows were printed by Bill Miller’s Wallpaper Studio, Inc., in New York.
Photo Credit: Andy Warhol photographed April 28, 1971 at his retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC. Photo by Jack Mitchell/Getty Images.
