The Artnet.com Collector
Andy Warhol, 20th-century Icon
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Welcome to artnet.com's theme auction, "Icons of the 20th Century." We
begin our new collector's column by focusing on our selection of prints by
Andy Warhol, who was, needless to say, instrumental in defining the
iconography of the 20th century. Warhol's works exemplify the magic of
color and the visual power of repetition. In death, Andy Warhol has become
an icon himself.
The mania for Warhol has yet to subside among art collectors. Last year,
Warhol's painting Orange Marilyn (1964) sold for over $17 million, more
than four times his previous auction high. According to the artnet.com
auction database, from July of 1998 to July of 1999, 766 Warhol lots were
sold at auctions around the world for a total of $37.4 million. In many
cases, today's prices for Warhol have begun to eclipse auction highs set
in the 1980s art boom. One of the reasons for Andy's continuing appeal is
that his images have historical and emotional resonance. Who can forget
the Pop deities JFK and Jackie, James Dean and Marilyn, not to mention
Campbell's soup cans?
In the internet era, it has also become clear that Warhol's works have a
graphic power that communicates exceptionally well online to a new
generation of collectors. Artnet.com's special "Icons of the 20th Century"
sale features many stellar Warhol works, including hard-to-find prints
that have never come up for auction before.
The following lots are highlights of the sale which commences on September
16, and runs for three weeks ending on October 8 at 1 p.m.
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In the beginning there was Campbell's Soup I (1968), based on the 1962
soup can painting that made Andy an instant art superstar. Warhol turned
the label of a mass-produced soup (in this case green pea) into an instant
cultural icon. The soup maker has recently redesigned its famous brand
label, giving this edition even greater significance. |
Andy was a rebel with a cause and his fascination with the beauty of movie stars explains his esthetic of surface beauty and glamour. A unique signed
trial proof for the color silkscreen Rebel Without a Cause (1985) has come
up only once before, fetching $26,500 in 1989 at Sotheby's New York. The
image, with its Japanese calligraphic inscriptions and movie poster look,
has an extremely vibrant tone. |
Marilyn Monroe (1967) has proved to be the most enduring of 20th-century
icons, a melancholic portrait on a bright pink monochrome, her beauty
mark, mouth and eye shadow highlighted in pink. This is one of the most
sought-after Warhol images ever produced. |
Flash--November 22, 1963 is an entire suite of 11 screenprints produced in 1968 in the aftermath of JFK's assassination (and thematically related to
Warhol's 1963-64 screenprints on canvas of Jackie Kennedy). The prints'
spectral imagery peeking out of a faded color. contains the weight of a
tragic history, their cropped and distorted images incredibly poignant. |
By 1977, Warhol began working with the accomplished printmaker Rupert Smith, a collaboration that produced hundreds of prints and paintings
until Warhol's death. After the mid-1970's, Warhol had expanded his
repertory of subjects to historical figures and athletes. Ten Portraits of
Jews of the Twentieth Century,1980 is a portfolio of 10 screenprints,
including portraits of Albert Einstein, the Marx Brothers and Franz Kafka.
The idea for this suite, according to Bob Colacello in his 1990 Warhol
biography Holy Terror, came from dealer Ronald Feldman, who mused that all
were masters in their field and should therefore be immortalized by Andy. |
The myth of Joseph Beuys (1980/83) continues on to this day. Warhol immensely admired the art world's intellectual anti-hero. This portrait
captures the essence of the charismatic shaman who epitomizes modern
German art. |
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Andy was renowned for making money both literally and figuratively. The
unique in color screenprint Quadrant$, (1982) from a portfolio of two, is
simply an icon within an icon, four dollar signs repeated in various
shades. |
Life's a dance when you own Martha Graham, Letter to the World (The Kick)
(1986), from a portfolio of three screen prints. This particular image is
based on the famous Barbara Morgan photograph of the modern dance pioneer,
a dynamo of vibrant color and line. |
Music is the god of Beethoven (1987), a portfolio of four prints in which
the celebrated Romantic composer is seen against a mostly black
background, quill and sheet music in hand. The intensely colored prints
are given complexity and depth by an superimposed image of the musical
score of Moonlight Sonata. This is only the second time this entire
portfolio has been seen at auction. |
As for the fashion muses, they love their shoes. A nice companion piece to
the forthcoming show of shoe paintings at Gagosian Gallery in New York is
Shoes (1980), a complete set of 5 screenprints. Basically still lifes for
fashion moguls, these works hark back to Warhol's days as a fashion
illustrator. As Ezra Pound said, "There is no high road to the muses." |
Lastly, we uncover the tomb of Red Lenin, (1987). The image is lifted from
an 1897 photograph of the 27-year-old revolutionary leader and represents
Warhol's last major effort as a portraitist. Its deep, saturated red plays
on the color of the Soviet flag. Simple and powerful, the print is
considered among the finest of Warhol's career. It was in production when
Warhol suddenly died; only 46 trial proofs were signed, and artnet.com is
offering one of these rare impressions. |
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As gatekeeper to the 20th-century lexicon of pop iconography, Warhol gives
us a cultural map that reflects his Catholic upbringing. As an adult, he
transmuted the figures of religious devotion into a worship of Pop
deities. His forms were appropriated, not from stained glass, but from
the reliquaries of mass appeal.
The burgeoning 21st century makes these symbols desirable for their
historical documentation and their emotional resonance.
-- Max Henry
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