PIASA's Editions department is holding a print, illustrated book and multiple edition auction on Wednesday June 30th. The sale will include 228 lots, among which 11 lots signed by Andy Warhol.
Born into a modest family of Slovakian origin, Andy Warhol obtained his degree in graphic design at the University of Pittsburgh in 1949 and then moved to New York. From then on, he worked as an illustrator for magazines such as Vogue and The New Yorker, and created decorations for department stores' windows.
As a spectator of his time, Andy Warhol started in 1962 with a series of portraits of Liz Taylor, Marylin Monroe and Jackie Kennedy. The technique is simple. He used photographs - mainly Polaroids - as models, reducing them to the most essential features and finally transferring them to paper or canvas using a silk-screen stencil. This technique, which originated in the advertising industry - for which Warhol had worked - allowed for great graphic freedom, which he exploited relentlessly. Stripped of their details, the images acquired a visual effectiveness that contributed greatly to their success.
In 1964, he inaugurated his studio, "The Factory", which became an essential part of the underground scene. He surrounded himself with assistants, pushing the serial nature of his work to the limit. As G. Malanza, his former collaborator, points out: "we spent no more than four minutes per [work], the idea being to work mechanically. ". His artistic practice thus resembled a kind of assembly line work, which Warhol confirmed by saying that he wanted to approach the state of a "machine".
Andy Warhol (Andrew Warhola) (1928-1987)
Kiku - 1983
Estimate: 30 000 / 40 000 €
Some time after being seriously wounded by a bullet in his studio, Warhol decided to close the place to the public while continuing his plastic experiments with silkscreen printing. Rock stars, heads of state, politicians, monarchs, businessmen and artists... hundreds of famous contemporaries were portrayed by Warhol, who took full responsibility for these commissioned works. "Business art is the next step after art. I began as a commercial artist, and I want to end up as a business artist. [...]. Making good business is the most fascinating art."
Andy Warhol (Andrew Warhola) (1928-1987)
Kiku - 1983
Estimate: 30 000 / 40 000 €
However, Warhol's silkscreen production could not be reduced to a lucrative celebrity portrait business. Indeed, during his meteoric career, he used many other, more common subjects - such as flowers, dollars or tins - to produce his multiples. Silkscreening became a means of achieving plastic perfection by reproducing a given motif identically. The artist disappears so that only the image is visible, an ideal of objectivity. He used to say: "It would be great if other people started silk-screening, so that we wouldn't know if it was me who did the painting or someone else".
This wish will remain pious, as the silk-screen reproduction process does not satisfy the need for accuracy. The Kiku series - of which we present two plates - is a topical example. The choice of paper, the placement of the screen, the arrangement of shapes and colours: everything contributes to the unique and original character of each piece and thus to its creative magic - a Warholian touch - far beyond the simple multiple image
