Andy Warhol - Editions & Works on Paper New York Tuesday, October 19, 2021 | Phillips
  • "I always like to work on leftovers, doing the leftover things. Things that were discarded, that everybody knew were no good…" —Andy WarholCommissioned by gallerists and environmental philanthropists Ronald and Frayda Feldman, Warhol turned his characteristically kinetic pop sensibility and propensity for the discarded toward the natural world. Depicting ten endangered species in screenprint, brimming with color and verve, Warhol showcases the lively nobility of animals like the Bald Eagle (lot 78), African Elephant (lot 79), and Pine Barrens Tree Frog (lot 80). These vibrant images contrast the reality of the dwindling number of each species they represent.


    When reflecting on death in general Warhol wrote, “I'm so sorry to hear about it. I just thought that things were magic and that it would never happen.” Warhol’s tongue in cheek naiveite enriches our understanding of his artistic treatment of subjects on the brink of extinction; it’s as if his loving depictions are the very magic that might immortalize entire species. Warhol’s 1983 Endangered Species stands out not only as a striking and appealing series in the career of Andy Warhol, but also as a consequential forerunner to contemporary socially engaged art. Since 1983, the bald eagle and Pine Barrens tree frog populations have rebounded remarkably through the work of environmentalists in the United States. However, the African elephant and seven other species depicted in Warhol’s series of prints remain endangered.

    • Literature

      Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann 296

    • 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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78

Bald Eagle, from Endangered Species (F. & S. 296)

1983
Screenprint in colors, on Lenox Museum board, the full sheet.
S. 38 x 38 in. (96.5 x 96.5 cm)
Signed and numbered 61/150 in pencil (there were also 30 artist's proofs), published by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc., New York (with their and the artist's inkstamp on the reverse), framed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$60,000 - 90,000 

Sold for $201,600

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Editions & Works on Paper

New York Auction 19-21 October 2021