Andy Warhol - New Now New York Wednesday, September 26, 2018 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Robert Miller Gallery, New York
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Catalogue Essay

    Andy Warhol’s early drawings and works on paper were fundamental in the development of his oeuvre and career. Initially overlooked by the fine art world, he was celebrated for his commercial illustrations in the 1940’s and 50’s. Warhol’s first contract was for the September cover of Glamour magazine in 1948, and was followed by a major commission for shoe advertisements with the women’s shoe company I Miller & Sons in 1955, which “made him rich before he launched into pop art.” Warhol’s signature style of commercial illustration was instantly recognizable, and subsequently Warhol “became New York’s most sought-after illustrator of ladies’ accessories.”

    Warhol also produced eight self-published artist books between 1953 and 1960, with which he intended to promote his illustration business to potential clients. The imagery in these books drew inspiration from children’s storybooks, historical sources and popular culture. The popularization of French cuisine in New York in the late 1950s inspired Warhol and friend Suzie Frankfurt to create the book Wild Raspberries, which parodies chef August Escoffier’s esteemed Le guide culinaire (1907) and Ingmar Berman’s 1957 film Wild Strawberries.

    Warhol moved away from his early drawing and illustration style, consequently declining to exhibit or talk much about his hand-painted pre-Pop works. Despite Warhol’s reticence and the near-disappearance of these early works from the public eye, one cannot deny their importance in the development of Warhol’s mature practice – pulling influence and inspiration from popular culture, these works on paper are as signature Warhol as anything that would follow.

  • 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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PROPERTY OF AN IMPORTANT EAST COAST COLLECTOR

126

Highway Overview

signed "Andy Warhol" on the reverse
four stitched gelatin silver prints
17 1/2 x 21 3/4 in. (44.5 x 55.2 cm.)
Executed in 1976-1986.

Estimate
$30,000 - 50,000 

Sold for $31,250

Contact Specialist
Sam Mansour
Associate Specialist, Head of New Now Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1219
smansour@phillips.com

New Now

New York Auction 26 September 2018