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Museum Minute: In a painting of a woman lassoing a pink Cadillac, artist pokes at Western stereotypes

A painting of a woman lassoing a pink Cadillac on a dirt road by artist Anne Coe.
Whitney Western Art Museum
A painting depicting a woman on a horse pulling a pink Cadillac on a dirt road with mountains behind her. There is a cow print border and the woman, and her horse are overlapping the border.

Artist Anne Coe pokes fun at western stereotypes. Whitney Western Art Museum Curator Susan Barnett describes her painting “At the End of Her Rope.”

“The artist shows the cowgirl as a heroic figure, expertly and humorously lassoing a pink Cadillac in the background,” she said.

The scene painted in 1992 takes place in a mountainous area on a dirt road lined with sagebrush.

“Although the landscape uses a representational palette, the car offers a splash of pop pink. In this humorous take on many Western tropes, the artist shows the contemporary West while nodding her hat to traditional Western art,” she said.

The painting is part of an upcoming exhibition at the Whitney Western Art Museum opening in May that looks at how Western art and pop art intersect.

Pop! Goes the West is supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

Olivia Weitz is based at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody. She covers Yellowstone National Park, wildlife, and arts and culture throughout the region. Olivia’s work has aired on NPR and member stations across the Mountain West. She is a graduate of the University of Puget Sound and the Transom story workshop. In her spare time, she enjoys skiing, cooking, and going to festivals that celebrate folk art and music.

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