Andy Warhol - Evening & Day Editions London Thursday, September 10, 2020 | Phillips

Evening & Day Editions

London Auction 10 September 2020

  • Provenance

    Hermann Wünsche, Bonn
    Acquired from the above by Toni Schumacher in 1982

  • Literature

    Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann 31
    Andy Warhol: Das Graphische Werk 1962-1980, exh. cat., Hermann Wünsche, Bonn, 1981, no. 8

  • Catalogue Essay

    "Mr. Andy Warhol paints a portrait of Harald Schumacher. Königswinter, May 26, 1983". This simple accounting ledger by the Gallerist Hermann Wünsche marks the encounter between two legends in their field, and an unlikely meeting between Pop Art and Football.

    In the early 1980’s, Harald Anton Schumacher (known as Toni) was riding a wave of success as goalkeeper for both his local, Cologne and national West Germany teams, having won the 1980 European Championship and in 1982 reaching the final of the World Cup. Unlike most young sports stars, fame and fortune led Schumacher away from the stereotypical trappings of success. “My fellow players spent their money on big cars, I was crazy about Pop Art!” Schumacher recalls. He had met the Gallerist Hermann Wünsche through the President of the 1. FC Köln football club, Peter Weiand (who also had a great admiration for Andy Warhol) and through Wünsche purchased an iconic Marilyn screenprint [lot 19]. In glamorous hot pink, almost the Ferrari of Pop Art, one can see how this Hollywood icon appealed to the young sports star. Even now, when asked what question he would have for Andy Warhol today, Schumacher answers, "if he could arrange a meeting with Marilyn."

    Schumacher admired Warhol’s work not only for its heady, colourful aesthetic, but also for the personalities he depicted: celebrities, politicians, and sports stars; all icons in their own right, as Schumacher was also becoming. When Wünsche suggested to Weiand that Warhol should be commissioned to paint Schumacher’s portrait, both men jumped at the idea and the ensuing meeting took place, as documented, on May 26, 1983.

    Warhol was typically modest and introverted, whilst Schumacher was in awe; star-struck by the artist for whom he had so much admiration. Warhol posed Schumacher similarly to Muhammad Ali [lot 17] whom the artist had also depicted for a screenprint edition, and which Schumacher later acquired. Some 30-50 polaroids were taken before Warhol left and three to four months later, Schumacher received the all-important call from Wünsche to say that the works had arrived. Four screenprints and two originals on canvas: the football star transformed into a Pop Art icon.

    After being enjoyed for several decades in the clubhouse at FC Köln, the blue canvas portrait of Schumacher was later purchased by the footballer and remains in the footballer’s collection. Hung alongside his coveted Marilyn, Muhammad Ali and a later acquisition of the complete set of Beethoven prints [lot 18], Schumacher’s portrait became part of the footballer’s personal retrospective of Warhol celebrity portraiture. Testament to his relationship with artist, both Marilyn and Ali bear dedications to Schumacher, the latter wishing him luck in the European Championship.

  • 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 from the Collection of Toni Schumacher

19

Andy Warhol

Marilyn

1967
Screenprint in colours, on wove paper, the full sheet.
S. 91.5 x 91.6 cm (36 x 36 1/8 in.)
Signed and dedicated 'To Toni Schumacher' in black felt-tip pen on the front and annotated 'F' in pencil on the reverse (one of 26 lettered artist's proofs, the edition was 250), published by Factory Additions, New York, framed.

Estimate
£140,000 - 180,000 

Sold for £225,000

Contact Specialist
Rebecca Tooby-Desmond
Specialist, Head of Sale, Editions, Associate Director
London
+44 207 318 4079

Evening & Day Editions

London Auction 10 September 2020