"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.