“'Be very quiet,' warned John, the guide, as he switched off the ignition of the Land Rover. He pointed to a wooded knoll about 300 yards away. 'Rhino,' he whispered. There, just below the crest, was the dark, massive form of a black rhinoceros.”
—New York Times reporting from the Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya, 29 June 1982

… And so began the New York Times article that inspired Andy Warhol to create his Black Rhinoceros of 1983. Anchored by the cut-throat vertical axis of its dominating horn, Warhol’s composition depicts the majestic creature in all its glory. Frontally facing with large endearing ears, hooked-lip, and fuzzy snout, the rhino’s enchanting gaze is both striking and submissive. Warhol was immediately taken by the article, which reported on the devastating impact of poaching in Kenya, the result of which left only ten percent of wild rhinoceros populations remaining. Previously abundant on the African plains, the early 1970s saw an extortionate increase in hunting the animal for its precious ivory horn. Back in New York, awareness of endangered animals was growing, as was a weightier environmental consciousness; thus began the creation of Andy Warhol’s Endangered Species series.