Richard Prince's Marlboro Cowboys: Appropriation and Critique

Nearly thirty years after its creation, Richard Prince's Untitled (Cowboy) continues to provoke debate. The photograph is part of a series where Prince re-photographed iconic Marlboro advertising images. While working at a magazine clipping articles for Time journalists, Prince became fascinated by the omnipresence and unidirectionality of advertising messages. He began photographing Marlboro cowboys, cropping out text and manipulating focus and framing. In a video commentary, both Prince and the original photographers who shot for Marlboro in the 1970s discuss his controversial conceptual operation, which serves as a critique of a certain American lifestyle. The work raises questions about authorship and the power of images in contemporary society.