Who was Andrew Warhol? The Silver Prince of the Pop? None other than the leading figure in the pop art movement, seen as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century: Andy Warhol. We've all seen his work at some point, but what is the story behind some of his iconic images and how much are his works selling for at auction?
Today we know Warhol for his avant-garde pop art paintings and high-contrast silkscreens. He painted commercial products - like his famous Campbell’s soup cans - and celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. But as any great artist does, Andy Warhol started from scratch. He was born in Pittsburgh in 1928 as Andrew Warhola and moved to New York in 1949, building a career as a commercial artist. It was then he decided to proceed under the name Andy Warhol. He soon became one of the most successful commercial artists of the 50s, winning awards for his signature style. His whimsical shoe drawings with blotted lines in ink were one of his first works to appear in a gallery.
Blue Cat with Perfume Bottle
Andy's early career days were spent as a graphic designer. His illustrations appeared in magazines before the days of photoshopped advertisements and he developed a whimsical style. His preferred subjects were icons of American consumerism, a theme that would continue throughout his career, and one particular subject that cropped up in his 1950s work already was perfume. Less commonly known than his soup cans and silver wigs, was Warhol's love of perfume. He would change perfumes every 3 months and never go back to wearing the same scent again. He realised the power held by the sense of smell and the ability for smell memory to transport one into another time and place. Therefore the constant changes in perfumes meant that each scent would be able to take him back to those 3 months of wearing it.
In addition to his many other meticulous collections, Warhol built up a 'permanent smell collection' to save fragrances from being lost to time and forgotten. We see images of perfume appearing in his early drawing such as this 'Blue Cat with Perfume Bottle' lithograph from 1954. One such lithograph came up for auction in 2017, but how much did it sell for? You can view the auction results here.
Cans of Soup
Warhol started to focus more and more on painting instead of drawing, and in 1961 the concept of pop art was officially born. In contrast to the traditional fine art, pop art was not about aesthetics or beauty. It was about emphasising the popular elements of the American culture; the high contrast paintings of mass produced commercial goods contain a sense of irony. Pop art was soon mass produced too.
The pop art movement really started to take off when Warhol exhibited his Campbell’s soup cans paintings in 1962. Warhol later stated this was his favourite work. Campbell's soup reminded him of his mother who served it to him regularly. Those who received a rare invitation to dine with Warhol remember being served Campbell's soup and assuming it was a joke. It was not. Warhol really did love their soup. Today the soup cans are not just one of his most iconic paintings, but also epitomises the unique artistic method he used – painting by hand and transferring the painting to a photo with which he created a silkscreen .
Marilyn Monroe
Later that same year Warhol produced a painting that would again be one of his most iconic works; the Marilyn Diptych. In August 1962 Andy Warhol came under the spell of silkscreen art, for it was simple, quick and he could perform slight modifications on the same photo over and over again. When Marilyn Monroe ended her life that same month, he made the life-changing decision to use her beautiful face for his new work.
The 1960s were Warhols' glory days, standing in the spotlights with his unique style. He opened The Factory, an art studio that soon became a cultural hotspot, and painted celebrity portraits from Elizabeth Taylor to Muhammad Ali. His 'Eight Elvises' portrait became one of the most valuable paintings in the world when it was sold for around €100 million in 2008. These portraits, like Warhol’s paintings of mass produced commercial goods, were a celebration as well as a satire of fame and materiality. A worship as well as a critique. It seems that Warhol criticised this popular culture obsessed with money and fame through his works, while at the same time was obsessed with money and fame himself.
Ladies and Gentlemen
As the mindset of the Unites States became more liberal in the 1970s, Warhol, inspired by the ever-growing drag community, produced a new series of 10 screen prints titled Ladies and Gentlemen. Art dealer Luciano Anselmino had the original idea for the series and under Warhol's direction, the editor of Interview magazine, Bob Colacello, recruited the drag queens that would be represented in the series. The self-fashioned personas represented by these performers fascinated Warhol and his series presented them in a new light. They were posed in beautiful, graceful manners and given a glamorous image which gave new meaning to the term 'queen'.
Two prints from this series, signed by Warhol himself, came up for auction 2016 at Catawiki. Find out how much the work on the left sold for here and how much the work on the right sold for here.
Beatrix
Warhol remained enamoured with those in the public eye and in 1985 he produced another queen series, but this time with a different focus. It was his largest screen print portfolio, titled Reigning Queens. Less ubiquitous, but nonetheless spectacular, he featured four famous females who were royal in their own right (they didn't marry a king, they were simply queens by birth): Queen Elizabeth II of England, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Ntombi of Swaziland and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. One 'royal' series of these screen prints were accented with diamond dust, giving them a regal touch. Rumour has it that Queen Elizabeth II was so fond of her own portrait in the series that one was purchased for the royal collection, appropriately enough, for her diamond jubilee.
A signed, numbered edition of Beatrix (number 23 of 40) came up for auction with us in 2016 and sold for an impressive amount. Discover the auction results here.
Today, Andy Warhol’s iconic work can be found all over the world, for example in our weekly Modern art auctions. You can also find him - if you are lucky - in our Records / Vinyl auction, with his famous 'peelable banana' design on the cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico album. Do you have an Andy Warhol work you would like to share with the world? Register here to become a seller and offer it up for auction.