Phillips
Announces
Andy Warhol’s Lenin
A
Selling Exhibition of Works from the Archive of Galerie Klüser
Open
to the Public from 26 September to 4 October 2019
LONDON
– 1 AUGUST 2019 – Phillips is pleased to announce Andy Warhol’s Lenin, a selling exhibition that brings together
original works on canvas, collages and works on paper from the Archive of
Galerie Klüser. As Andy Warhol’s publisher and gallerist, Galerie Klüser has
been at the forefront of the global art scene and the collection represents a
historical artefact of the American pop artist’s relationship to portraiture. Bernd
Klüser was instrumental in exposing Warhol to Lenin’s image at a later stage in
the artist’s career. As this series of nine works demonstrates, Bernd Klüser
encouraged Warhol to experiment through different media to develop the portrait
image. The exhibition opens to the public from 26 September to 4 October 2019, and
highlights will be on display in Phillips’ Berkeley Square galleries during the
September Editions auction preview from 5 to 12 September.
Warhol’s
last series of pictures before he died took Lenin as its subject. Bernd Klüser’s
collaboration with the artist concerning this subject started in the spring of
1986, when he showed Warhol an unusual photograph of Lenin. The photograph
portrayed Lenin as a self-assured, forceful young man; a pile of book
indicating his occupation as an intellectual and political theorist.
Bernd Klüser recalls, “We had
already been planning for two years to cooperate on a project which was to
strike out in a new direction: instead of reproducing the stereotyped icons of
everyday life in America, Warhol would be confronted with an image which went
against the grain of his usual preoccupations. By virtue of both its content
and its formal quality, the photograph of Lenin seemed ideal for this purpose.”
Warhol
understood the defining myths of his generation and how reproduced images
served to both reflect and shape contemporary life. By appropriating the
silkscreen as a fine art medium, Warhol forever altered printmaking in the late
twentieth century. Andy Warhol’s Lenin comprises
eight prints and silkscreens, and one work on canvas from this series.
Anne Schneider-Wilson, Senior Specialist, Editions,
said, “We are proud and excited to host this exceptional group of works from The
Klüser Collection. To be able to show nine works from the Lenin Series, which Bernd Klüser Galerie commissioned Andy Warhol
to produce in 1986, is exceptional. This
series of works marks an ambitious project just before Warhol’s death in 1987,
truly capturing the depth of his exploration of different media and
experimental working practice.”
Across
four decades, Bernd Klüser has worked closely with a number of artists
including Enzo Cucchi, Tony Cragg, Jannis Kounellis, Mimmo Paladino, and Andy
Warhol, since the founding of Galerie Schellmann & Klüser” in 1978—which
first focused on Joseph Beuys’ prints and editioned artworks—to the creation of
Galerie Bernd Klüser in 1985.
Exhibition: 26
September – 4 October, 2019
Location: 30
Berkeley Square, London
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