'I want to be as famous as the Queen of England.'
—Andy Warhol In 1985, Andy Warhol transformed Queen Elizabeth II into the celebrity he imagined her to be. Using a photograph taken from the Queen’s 1977 Silver Jubilee portrait, when she was just 51, the artist applied his Pop aesthetic to the British monarch, stylising her face with graphic lines and flat colours. Warhol’s Reigning Queens series featured the four sitting queens of the day, who assumed the throne through birth right alone, not by marriage: Queen Elizabeth II of England, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland.
This portrait of the Queen has become one of her most well-known images, used globally from currency to postage stamps. Dressed in the Vladimir tiara, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee necklace, Queen Alexandra’s wedding earrings, and King George VI’s Family Order pinned to the Garter sash, Warhol’s subject is adorned with her heritage. The hot pink backdrop in the present example matches the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebratory garb of pink dress, coat and hat. Adding a touch of fluorescence, Warhol modernizes Her Majesty in fuchsia, merging her past and present in an image worthy of her legacy.
Queen Elizabeth ll greets the public during a Silver Jubilee walkabout on 7th June, 1977 in London, England. Photo: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
Celebrating seventy years of service to the people of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, 2022 marks Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee - the first British monarch to achieve this milestone. In 2012, to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee of sixty years on the throne, the Royal Collection purchased four of Warhol’s Reigning Queen portraits of Her Majesty, in varying colourways.
Derek Hudson, Andy Warhol holding a screenprint of Queen Elizabeth II in his studio, The Factory New York, 1985. Image: © Derek Hudson/Getty Images, Artwork: © 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by DACS, London Provenance
Andy Warhol Foundation
Galerie Bob Coppens, Belgium
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner, circa 2000Literature
Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann 336
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.
Property from a Private Belgian Collection
37
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, from Reigning Queens (F. & S. 336)
1985
Screenprint in colours, on Lenox Museum Board, the full sheet.
S. 100.1 x 80 cm (39 3/8 x 31 1/2 in.)
Signed and numbered 34/40 in pencil (there were also 10 artist's proofs), published by George C.P. Mulder, Amsterdam, framed.
Estimate
£100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £352,800
Rebecca Tooby-Desmond
Specialist, Head of Sale, Editions
T +44 207 318 4079
M +44 7502 417366
rtooby-desmond@phillips.com
Robert Kennan
Head of Editions, Europe
T +44 207 318 4075
M +44 7824 994 784
rkennan@phillips.com
Anne Schneider-Wilson
Senior International Specialist, Editions
T +44 207 318 4042
M +44 7760 864 748
aschneider-wilson@phillips.com
Evening & Day Editions
London Auction 14-15 June 2022
177
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178
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206
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