WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Warrington Colescott

Warrington Colescott

American, 1921

WA-00026624

Wisconsin, USA

PrintmakingConceptual ArtContemporaryFiguration

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ7970718 ULAN500082155

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Photography as Printmaking

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1968

No image

Around the Automobile

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1965–1966

No image

Contemporary Painters and Sculptors as Printmakers

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1964

No image

Young American Printmakers

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1953–1954

Field Verification (4 fields)

4 cross-verified · 0 single-source

BiographyMoMA· 93%✓
Birth yearMoMA· 93%✓
LocationMoMA· 93%✓
NationalityMoMA· 93%✓

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/1184
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Warrington Colescott was an American printmaker and painter known for satirical intaglio prints that combined historical imagery with contemporary social critique. Working primarily in etching and engraving, he created densely layered compositions that merged old master techniques with irreverent humor and political commentary. Based in Wisconsin, Colescott developed a distinctive visual vocabulary that mocked authority, power structures, and cultural pretension through fragmented narratives and grotesque figuration. His work bridged postwar American printmaking and conceptual art, refusing the abstraction that dominated his era in favor of explicit subject matter and narrative complexity.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 29d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Conceptual Art

Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago Tate

Canonical record

Artworks (34)

WattsOS

Picasso at Mougins: the etchings

2002 · color etching, aquatint and softground etching

Sheet: 57.6 x 76.1 cm (22 11/16 x 29 15/16 in.); Platemark: 45.1 x 60.6 cm (17 3/4 x 23 7/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

To Your Good Health

1986 · Watercolor on paper

131 × 101 cm (51 5/8 × 39 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

History of Printmaking: S. W. Hayter Discovers Viscosity Printing

1976 · intaglio

Image: 55.5 x 70.3 cm (21 7/8 x 27 11/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

S. W. Hayter Discovers Viscosity Printing, from The History of Printmaking

1976 · Color soft ground etching and aquatint, with vibrograver, relief rolls through stencils on cream wove paper

Image/plate: 55.6 × 75.6 cm (21 15/16 × 29 13/16 in.); Sheet: 63.1 × 91.1 cm (24 7/8 × 35 7/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Lasansky Reaches Iowa City, from The History of Printmaking

1976 · Color lithograph on paper

Image: 29 × 39.5 cm (11 7/16 × 15 9/16 in.); Sheet: 51.2 × 66.2 cm (20 3/16 × 26 1/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Portfolio box, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Print Seminar, March 1975 Portfolio

1975 · Clamshell box wrapped in linen with embossed cream wove paper addition

Art Institute of Chicago

Title Page, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Print Seminar, March 1975 Portfolio

1975 · Letterpress in brown on cream wove paper

Art Institute of Chicago

A Brief History of Flight, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Print Seminar, March 1975 Portfolio

1975 · Color soft ground etching, with vibrograver, and viscosity inking on paper

Art Institute of Chicago

The First Thanksgiving

1973 · Etching, aquatint, and drypoint

plate: 30 1/16 × 22 1/4" (76.3 × 56.5 cm); sheet: 30 1/16 × 22 1/4" (76.3 × 56.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

III: From La Brea (folio 11) from The Mariposa Suite Nos. I-VI

1970 · Etching and photogravure with roulette from an illustrated book with seven etchings (six with aquatint, five with drypoint, five with roulette, and two with photogravure)

plate: 11 15/16 × 9 15/16" (30.3 × 25.3 cm); sheet: 14 15/16 × 12 11/16" (37.9 × 32.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

The Mariposa Suite Nos. I-VI

1970 · Illustrated book with seven etchings (six with aquatint, five with drypoint, five with roulette, and two with photogravure)

sheet (each approx.): 14 15/16 × 12 13/16" (37.9 × 32.5 cm); overall (closed): 16 5/16 × 14 1/4 × 1 1/4" (41.5 × 36.2 × 3.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

V: Catalina View (folio 17) from The Mariposa Suite Nos. I-VI

1970 · Etching, aquatint, and drypoint with roulette from an illustrated book with seven etchings (six with aquatint, five with drypoint, five with roulette, and two with photogravure)

plate (irreg.): 11 9/16 × 10" (29.4 × 25.4 cm); sheet: 14 15/16 × 12 11/16" (38 × 32.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

I: Mariposa Street (folio 5) from The Mariposa Suite Nos. I-VI

1970 · Etching, aquatint, and drypoint with roulette from an illustrated book with seven etchings (six with aquatint, five with drypoint, five with roulette, and two with photogravure)

plate: 11 7/8 × 9 15/16" (30.2 × 25.2 cm); sheet: 15 × 12 13/16" (38.1 × 32.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

IV: Cisco Kid (folio 14) from The Mariposa Suite Nos. I-VI

1970 · Etching, aquatint, and drypoint with roulette from an illustrated book with seven etchings (six with aquatint, five with drypoint, five with roulette, and two with photogravure)

plate (irreg.): 11 3/4 × 10" (29.9 × 25.4 cm); sheet: 14 7/8 × 12 11/16" (37.8 × 32.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Frontispiece (folio 2) from The Mariposa Suite Nos. I-VI

1970 · Etching and aquatint from an illustrated book with seven etchings (six with aquatint, five with drypoint, five with roulette, and two with photogravure)

plate (irreg.): 8 1/8 × 6 3/4" (20.6 × 17.1 cm); sheet: 14 7/8 × 12 5/8" (37.8 × 32.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

VI: A Club in My Ribs (folio 20) from The Mariposa Suite Nos. I-VI

1970 · Etching, aquatint, photogravure, and drypoint with roulette from an illustrated book with seven etchings (six with aquatint, five with drypoint, five with roulette, and two with photogravure)

plate: 11 7/8 × 9 15/16" (30.2 × 25.2 cm); sheet: 14 15/16 × 12 11/16" (37.9 × 32.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

II: Butterflies Are May Winds (folio 8) from The Mariposa Suite Nos. I-VI

1970 · Etching and aquatint from an illustrated book with seven etchings (six with aquatint, five with drypoint, five with roulette, and two with photogravure)

plate: 11 7/8 × 9 15/16" (30.2 × 25.2 cm); sheet: 14 15/16 × 12 13/16" (37.9 × 32.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

5. Home on the Range

1968 · Lithograph on paper

image: 791 x 588 mm

Tate

6. Custard’s Last Stand

1968 · Lithograph on paper

image: 647 x 510 mm

Tate

1. High Noon for Hoot Gibson

1968 · Lithograph on paper

image: 590 x 793 mm

Tate

3. Dodge City

1968 · Lithograph on paper

image: 604 x 446 mm

Tate

2. Wagon Train

1968 · Lithograph on paper

image: 595 x 788 mm

Tate

4. Cowboys and Indians

1968 · Lithograph on paper

image: 605 x 435 mm

Tate

Attack and Defense at Little Bohemia, from Dillinger

1966 · Hard and soft ground etching, drypoint and open-bite etching, with a la poupee inking, and relief rolls through stencils, printed in color on white wove paper

Image/plate: 52.5 × 55.5 cm (20 11/16 × 21 7/8 in.); Sheet: 63.9 × 75.7 cm (25 3/16 × 29 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 34 artworks →

Artwork sources (4)

34 published of 47 catalogued · 45 with image

MoMA
13 publishedof 26 catalogued26 img
Art Institute Chicago
13 published13 img
Tate
6 published6 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
2 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 8)

8 entries · 1 sources

5. Home on the Range
1968 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
4. Cowboys and Indians
1968 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
6. Custard’s Last Stand
1968 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
History of Printmaking: S. W. Hayter Discovers Viscosity Printing
1976 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Picasso at Mougins: the etchings
2002 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
1. High Noon for Hoot Gibson
1968 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
2. Wagon Train
1968 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
3. Dodge City
1968 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Museum of Modern Art

Artsy

Relationships

Movements3

Conceptual Art Contemporary Figuration

Collections4

Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago Tate

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Tate

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Photography as Printmaking

New York · 1968

Group Exhibition Around the Automobile

New York · 1965

Group Exhibition Contemporary Painters and Sculptors as Printmakers

New York · 1964

Group Exhibition Young American Printmakers

New York · 1953