The Estate of Andy Warhol, New York. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., New York Gagosian Gallery, New York
Exhibited
New York, Gagosian Gallery, Andy Warhol Drawings and Related Works 1951-1986, 13 February - 22 March 2003
Catalogue Essay
“ Everybody has their own America...” ANDY WARHOL
Executed in 1962,Untitled (Cars) is a perfect example of Andy Warhol’s studies into America’s growing consumerism in the mid 20th century. At a time when the American people collectively took strides towards their individual slice of the American dream, Warhol’s commercial imagery explored this phenomenon along with its trappings of desire and the ‘pop culture’ which it ensued. The subject choice of the present lot is the absolute definition of America’s aspiration at this time, through the artist’s decision to use his nation’s most famous development, the motor car. The revolution of motorised transport not only changed the modern world but had also become the American symbol for ambition through its connotations of wealth and status. Drawing a parallel with this transitional and productive time for America, Warhol, as a successful artist, had also made a similar journey with his early foray into commercial illustration providing the foundations for his meteoric rise as an independent artist in his own right. This early commercial grounding played a significant role in his adopted artistic processes, such as the screen printing technique found in this present lot, which often mirrored the mass production of the subject he sort to depict. Warhol’s oeuvre encapsulates arguably some of the most famous images of the 20th century- perhaps most notable are his works of Campbell’s soup cans and those of the celebrities which became symbolic of the 1960s such as Marilyn Monroe. Untitled (Cars) comes from the same year as these iconic images; being equally seminal in subject, this lot is truly characteristic of Warhol and his legacy as the most celebrated American artist of the 20th century.
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.