Andy Warhol - Contemporary Art Day Sale London Wednesday, October 15, 2014 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Acquired directly from The Andy Warhol Foundation
    Private Collection, UK

  • Exhibited

    London, Olyvia Fine Art, Andy Warhol: Portraits, 16 March - 9 May 2010

  • Catalogue Essay

    Part of Warhol’s iconic series of portraits of the American elite, this painting from 1980 depicts two siblings, a brother and a sister, most likely the children of a titan of industry, in Warhol’s signature silkscreen style. Following in the tradition of society painters before him, the artist’s relationship to his sitters was largely symbiotic: the aloof and withdrawn Warhol benefitted financially from portrait commissions, while the subjects were forever immortalised on canvas. These 40 x 40 inch portraits became status symbols, emblematic of the American excess of the 1980s. Nevertheless, in this double portrait Warhol projects his own nuanced approach to painting, rendering the two children timeless symbols of youth.

    The two children are strikingly similar, emphasising the inevitable progression of age. Warhol chooses to highlight this shift by giving emphasis to the younger child, drawing attention to his eyes and mouth with bolder outlines. The rapid pace of Warhol’s silkscreen production technique alludes to the quick and fleeting nature of innocence, which the artist so perfectly captures. Perhaps the most prolific portraitist to emerge from Post-War America, Andy Warhol transformed a simple portrait of two children into a wistful exploration of childhood progression.

  • Artist Biography

    Andy Warhol

    American • 1928 - 1987

    Andy Warhol was the leading exponent of the Pop Art movement in the U.S. in the 1960s. Following an early career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol achieved fame with his revolutionary series of silkscreened prints and paintings of familiar objects, such as Campbell's soup tins, and celebrities, such as Marilyn Monroe. Obsessed with popular culture, celebrity and advertising, Warhol created his slick, seemingly mass-produced images of everyday subject matter from his famed Factory studio in New York City. His use of mechanical methods of reproduction, notably the commercial technique of silk screening, wholly revolutionized art-making.

    Working as an artist, but also director and producer, Warhol produced a number of avant-garde films in addition to managing the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground and founding Interview magazine. A central figure in the New York art scene until his untimely death in 1987, Warhol was notably also a mentor to such artists as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

     

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155

Untitled

1980
silkscreen on canvas
102 x 101.9 cm (40 1/8 x 40 1/8 in.)
Signed and dated 'Andy Warhol 1980' on the overlap. Stamped by The Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation on the overlap. Numbered ‘10-912-2916’ and 'PO50.218' on the stretcher. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the The Andy Warhol Foundation.

Estimate
£60,000 - 80,000 

Sold for £74,500

Contact Specialist
Henry Highley
Head of Day Sale

+44 207 318 4061

Contemporary Art Day Sale

London Auction 16 October 2014 2pm