Andy Warhol - Editions & Works on Paper New York Tuesday, October 24, 2023 | Phillips
  • “I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.”
    —Andy Warhol

     

    Commissioned by gallerists and environmental philanthropists Ronald and Frayda Feldman, Andy Warhol turned his iconic pop sensibility toward the natural world, showcasing the lively nobility of ten animals listed in the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Alongside the Giant Panda, Warhol depicted the Bald Eagle, Black Rhinoceros, African Elephant, Bighorn Ram, Grévy’s Zebra, Orangutan, Pine Barrens Tree Frog, San Francisco Silverspot Butterfly, and Siberian Tiger. These vibrant images contrast the grim reality of the dwindling number of each species they represent. Describing the series, the National Museum of Wildlife Art wrote, “Warhol draws attention to the rarity of these animals and gives each the ‘star’ treatment.” Warhol utilized his easily digestible pop style to his advantage, drawing viewers into the work and creating a space for activism.

     

    By placing these animals in the same spotlight he often reserved for celebrities, Warhol helped raise awareness of these endangered animals and funds to aid in their conservation. Warhol printed a special Roman numeral edition of the Endangered Species series aside from the regular edition of 150, which was gifted to wildlife conservation groups.

     

    “Warhol employed the same silk-screening process that he used for his celebrity and pop art paintings – paintings that ask us to consider the commodification of fame. In an interesting twist, when Warhol applies this to endangered animals, animals most likely at risk because they sit in the crosshairs between profit and nature, the result is an acute awareness of what we stand to lose – if we don’t pay attention and act on behalf of the environment.”
    —National Museum of Wildlife Art

    • Literature

      Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann 295

    • 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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106

Giant Panda, from Endangered Species (F & S. 295)

1983
Screenprint in colors, on Lenox Museum Board, the full sheet.
S. 37 7/8 x 37 7/8 in. (96.2 x 96.2 cm)
Signed and numbered 107/150 in pencil (there were also 30 artist's proofs), published by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc., New York, framed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$100,000 - 150,000 

Sold for $127,000

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Editions & Works on Paper

New York Auction 24-26 October 2023