Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist
Frederick W. Hughes, New York
Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich
Matthew Marks Gallery, New York
Sotheby’s, New York, ‘Contemporary Art, Evening’, 10 May 2005, lot 65
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner
Exhibited
New York, Gagosian Gallery, Andy Warhol: Drawings & Related Works 1951–1986, 13 February – 22 March 2003
Literature
Georg Frei and Neil Printz, eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculptures Volume1: 1961–1963, New York, 2002, cat. no. 26, p. 42 (illustrated in colour)
Andy Warhol: Drawings & Related Works 1951–1986, exh. cat., Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2003, p. 88 (illustrated in colour)
Catalogue Essay
“Buying is more American than thinking, and I’m as American as they come.” ANDY WARHOL

The Spring of 1961, the year in which Watches was made,
was a significant moment in Andy Warhol’s career and
in the history of 20th-century art. This was when Andy
Warhol left his successful job as a commercial illustrator
for various magazines in New York and took his first steps
towards being an independent artist. Watches symbolises
this pivotal moment in Warhol’s career as an artist. While
his subjects remain in the world of consumption and
mass production, we can see the artist moving away in
this painting from his own pictorial language towards
the mass visual language of American society. Suddenly
Americans saw everyday objects such as watches,
vacuum cleaners, TVs and, later, Campbell’s soup cans,
as if for the first time. These objects, as enlarged, twodimensional
and repeated images, were totally familiar
yet visually arresting. A startlingly fresh way of seeing the
world was established.

“Once you ‘got’ pop, you could never see a sign the same way again. And once you thought pop, you could never see America the same way again.” (Andy Warhol from Popism: The Warhol ’60s)

Warhol used an opaque projector to enlarge the Watches advertisement clipping, published just once in the Sunday Daily News on 26 March 1961, onto the canvas. Working freehand, he reproduced the projection on the canvas without the help of a pencil under drawing. A fragmented part of the advertisement’s general heading is placed on the top of the painting, with the words “OF VALUE”, as well as the incomplete word “WATCHES”, which appeared over the right-hand side of a two-page spread. Compared
with other works of the series, Watches stands out for its clean layout and minimal graphic intervention.

In January of 1958, Warhol had seen Jasper Johns’s first show at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. Johns appropriated popular American iconography such as the flag, target and numbers as the imagery of his paintings, which in turn Warhol appropriated for his own early works. Benjamin Buchloh has written that “Warhol’s dialogue with Rauschenberg’s work finds parallel in his critical revisions of the legacy of Jasper Johns. By contrast, his own new mass-cultural iconography of consumption and the portraits of collective scopic prostitution looked just suddenly more specific, more concretely American than the American flag itself.” (Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, ‘Andy Warhol’s one-dimensional art: 1956–1966’, in Kynaston McShine, ed., Andy Warhol, A Retrospective, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1989, p. 51)

Watches marked a time of great significance in Warhol’s working methods. This unique work was made shortly before Warhol started using his trademark silkscreens. The strong pictorial emphasis of both Watches and the rest of the Newspaper Advertisements series, prefigure the graphic sensibility of the silkscreen technique that would eventually lift images of consumer products from the trivial to the exceptional and beautiful. Only a year after Watches, Warhol exhibited the now iconic paintings of Campbell’s soup cans at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in July 1962. These small canvas works of everyday objects created a sensation in the art world, bringing both Warhol and Pop art into the national spotlight.

Andy Warhol, who always wanted to be punctual, regularly wore a Cartier Tank wristwatch. His choice was not necessarily because it was a classic, elegant watch, but rather because it was worn by celebrities such as Jackie Onassis, Truman Capote, Greta Garbo and Clark Gable. Warhol was a professional artist and knew that time was money, and that for an artist’s career, timing was everything. Watches is the perfect metaphor for Warhol at this point in his career.
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.

View More Works

12

Andy Warhol

Watches

1961
water-based paint on cotton duck
180.3 x 122.6 cm (70 7/8 x 48 1/4 in)

Estimate
£1,000,000 - 2,000,000 ‡

Sold for £1,004,450

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

10 October 2012
London

1
Wolfgang Tillmans
Freischwimmer #84
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000 ‡♠
Sold for £39,650
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
2
Dan Colen
Happy Accidents, Happy Endings
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £145,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
3
Adam McEwen
Dessau
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡♠
Sold for £121,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
4
Rob Pruitt
Baby
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ‡
Sold for £97,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
5
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £181,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
6
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 †
Sold for £169,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
7
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £361,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
8
John Baldessari
Strobe Series/Futurist: Dog on Leash (for Balla)
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
9
Robert Longo
Untitled (Long Tou)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
10
Sean Scully
Homo Duplex
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £601,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
11
Louise Bourgeois
Nature Study
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000
Sold for £713,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
12
Andy Warhol
Watches
Estimate £1,000,000 - 2,000,000 ‡
Sold for £1,004,450
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
13
Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol
GE Short Line & Reading
Estimate £1,200,000 - 1,800,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
14
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Big Joy
Estimate £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 ‡
Sold for £2,617,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
15
This lot is no longer available.
16
Andy Warhol
Mao Portfolio (set of 10)
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £577,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
17
Richard Prince
Untitled (Girlfriend)
Estimate £220,000 - 280,000 ‡
Sold for £223,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
18
George Condo
Daphnée
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
19
Damien Hirst
Sad Steps – Life Fulfilled
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £601,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
20
Andreas Gursky
Rimini
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £421,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
21
Gerhard Richter
Abstraktes Bild
Estimate £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 ‡♠
Sold for £2,449,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
22
Anselm Kiefer
Dein Haus ritt die finstere Welle
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ♠
Sold for £577,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
23
Miquel Barceló
Sinonimies
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ♠
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
24
Richard Prince
Mumbai after Dark
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
25
Enoc Pérez
Darlington Hotel, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico,
Estimate £140,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £145,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
26
Andreas Gursky
Hong Kong Stock Exchange (diptych)
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
27
Robert Indiana
LOVE (Red faces Blue sides),
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
28
Ugo Rondinone
DRITTERAPRILZWEITAUSENDUNDSIEBEN
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £289,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
29
Raqib Shaw
Death, Beauty & Justice
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
30
Yayoi Kusama
Galaxy Red A,B,C
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
Sold for £313,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
31
This lot is no longer available.
32
Martin Kippenberger
S.Q.36/I.B.B.D. (Ich bin Besonders Doof)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ♠
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
33
Bill Viola
Ablutions
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
Sold for £181,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
34
Margherita Manzelli
Mr. Grigio
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
35
Nigel Cooke
Drift
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
36
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.
37
Ged Quinn
Things are Exactly as they Seem
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £91,250
Create your first list.
Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

10 October 2012 London

Create your first list.

Provenance

Exhibited

Literature

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Andy Warhol

12

Andy Warhol

Watches

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

Create your first list.

10 October 2012
London