Andy Warhol - Evening & Day Editions London Wednesday, January 17, 2024 | Phillips

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  • “I like the politics of Beuys. He should come to the US and be politically active there. That would be great... He should be President.”
    —Andy Warhol
    Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys, though distinct in their artistic approaches, were united in their status as icons of 20th-century art, both committed to constructing artistic personalities that came to define their work. Beuys, a leading figure in the Fluxus and Conceptual Art movements, explored the realms of social sculpture and shamanistic practices, emphasising the potency of the idea and the transformative ability of art in society. By contrast, Warhol, the preeminent Pop artist, was known for his fascination with consumerism and celebrity culture. He created vibrant images of highly recognisable people, symbols and commodities, often utilising the silkscreen technique to echo mass-media.  Despite their differences, both Beuys and Warhol became renowned figures as they subverted the established norms of their time, disregarding artistic convention. For that reason, publishers Jörg Schellmann and Bernd Klüser, together with art dealer Lucio Amelio, suggested that Warhol make portraits of Beuys, a fellow artist with myth-like status to rival his own.

     

    Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys at Warhol’s exhibition "Joseph Beuys, paintings and prints", Edition Schellmann, Munich, 1980. Image: © Schellmann Art

    Warhol met Beuys in 1979 when he visited New York for his Guggenheim retrospective, and a critic wrote that the occasion “had all the ceremonial aura of two rival popes meeting in Avignon.” That same year, the two artists met again at the Hans Mayer Gallery in Dusseldorf. There, Warhol took a polaroid of Beuys which would become the basis for the multiple portraits he made of him. Ranging from colourful repetitions to subtle black-on-black images, to vivid camouflage overlays, Warhol's portraits of Beuys not only signify the crossover of two icons of contemporary art, but also serve as visual testament to the deep mutual respect shared between these influential figures.

    “Working with Joseph Beuys on editions and exhibitions since 1970, Bernd Klüser and I (as Schellman and Klüser) had the idea in 1979 to suggest to Andy Warhol that he do a portrait of Joseph Beuys. Soon afterward we had arranged an appointment with the Factory in New York, but to our surprise we learned that Lucio Amelio, an art dealer in Naples, had already suggested the same idea to Warhol. When Andy realised our disappointment, he proposed that we do the project jointly with Amelio. As we had known Lucio for a long time, we arranged to do the project along with a number of small and large paintings, a print portfolio, and exhibitions in Naples, Geneva, and Munich. Years later, when Beuys died, Klüser and I published the portfolio For Joseph Beuys with works by thirty artists, which included a camouflaged version of Warhol's Beuys portrait.”
    —Jörg Schellmann

    • Provenance

      Personal copy of the publisher and part of the Archive of Edition Schellmann since time of publication

    • Literature

      see Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann 371
      Jörg Schellmann, ed., Forty Are Better Than One, Munich/New York, 2009, p. 352
      Jörg Schellmann, ed., Andy Warhol Unique, Munich/New York, 2014, p. 58

    • 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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Works from the Archive of Edition Schellmann to benefit the Ars Publicata Project

20

Joseph Beuys in Memoriam (see F. & S. 371)

1986
Unique screenprint in colours, on Arches 88 paper, the full sheet.
I. 102.5 x 76.6 cm (40 3/8 x 30 1/8 in.)
S. 110.3 x 77.7 cm (43 3/8 x 30 5/8 in.)

Signed in pencil, one of 26 unnumbered unique colour variant trial proofs (the edition was 150 and 36 artist's proofs), published by Edition Schellmann & Klüser, Munich and New York, unframed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£15,000 - 20,000 

Sold for £33,020

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Evening & Day Editions

London Auction 17 - 18 January 2024