“Warhol had intended his portraits to be seen – as vanitas images, history paintings, or simply glamour poses – he did more than any other artist to revitalise the practice of portraiture, bringing renewed attention to it in the avant-garde world.” i Throughout the 1980s, the American Pop artist Andy Warhol gradually turned his attention away from portraying the celebrities of his contemporary society and instead began to focus on iconic historical figures and motifs of the past. Whilst the artist shifted his interest from popular culture to art historical imagery, he nonetheless continued to focus his practice on one central theme: the cult of celebrity. Through his use of graphic outlines and poster-like colour fields, Warhol essentially transformed his classical subjects into contemporary icons. Depicting the Macedonian Emperor Alexander the Great in profile, the present lot is a trial proof produced by Warhol in 1982. Executed in a unique colourway of emerald green offset by yellow outlines, tonal variations of blue, and a shadow of baby pink, the screenprint relates to a wider series of Alexander the Great prints, which were commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, for their 1982 exhibition The Search for Alexander.
Head of Alexander the Great, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Taking inspiration from Italian Renaissance portraits and nineteenth-century European paintings, the Alexander the Great series is Warhol’s only body of work which utilises classical sculpture as a central motif. Warhol portrayed his subject in profile, gazing into the distance – the original source image an existing photograph of a Hellenistic bronze bust of Alexander the Great held in a private Swiss collection.
The Alexander the Great series was published by the Hellenic Heritage Foundation in co-operation with Alexander Iolas – an international art dealer and Andy Warhol’s close friend. Nicknamed "Alexander the Great" due to his Greek roots and close resemblance to the Macedonian Emperor, Iolas first met Warhol in 1945, when the 17-year-old artist was working as a commercial illustrator in New York. Iolas, then the founder and director of the Hugo Gallery, organised Warhol’s first gallery show entitled Fifteen Drawings, based on the writing of Truman Capote. The two soon began to experience recognition and success, establishing themselves as key players in New York’s upcoming art scene. As the American writer Bob Colacello explained: “In many ways Iolas and Andy were two of a kind, they shared the same high camp sensibility, an awareness and delight of the absurdity of existence.” In the following years, Warhol became a celebrated name at Iolas’ gallery – the dealer continued to support the artist’s exhibitions and patronised limited editions until each of their deaths, only months apart in 1987.
Alexander the Great, portrayed by Warhol with his strong features and flowing locks, could thus be regarded as the artist's homage to Iolas and the close relationship the two fostered over the years. Moreover, the profile of the Hellenistic Emperor – emphasised by Warhol’s archetypal graphic lines and bold colours – becomes the ultimate symbol of Greek elegance and might, standing as a remarkable testament to Andy Warhol’s continuous explorations into the power of the portrait.
i C. Defendi, F. Feldman and J. Schellmann, Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962-1987, New York, 2003, p. 25.Literature
see Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann 291-292
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.
109
Alexander the Great (see F. & S. 291-292)
1982
Unique screenprint in colours, on Lenox Museum Board, the full sheet.
S. 101.6 x 101.6 cm (40 x 40 in.)
Signed and numbered 'TP 2/65' in pencil (a unique colour variant trial proof, there were also 15 trial proofs in Arabic numerals and 8 trial proofs in Roman numerals, both on different sized papers, the edition was 25 and 5 artist's proofs), with the artist's copyright inkstamp on the reverse, published by Alexander lolas, New York, in co-operation with the Hellenic Heritage Foundation, to coincide with the exhibition The Search for Alexander at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 27 October 1982 to 3 January 1983, framed.
Estimate
£60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £139,700
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Evening & Day Editions
London Auction 19 - 20 September 2024
407
This lot is no longer available.
