Realizzata neCreated in 1972, the “Mao” series represents one of the most famous cycles in the production of Andy Warhol, a central figure of American Pop Art. The artist in fact chose to transform the official portrait of Mao Zedong, circulated in millions of copies during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, into a serial image intended for the Western art system. In this way, Warhol reflects on the relationship between political power, mass communication and image culture.
The work in fact presents the typical visual language developed by the artist between the 1960s and 1970s: flat colour fields, strong graphic contrast and pictorial interventions that alter the original photograph. Moreover, Mao’s face is treated as a true pop icon, on a par with the famous Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley. However, behind the visual immediacy emerges a more complex reflection on the reproducibility of the image and on the transformation of political leaders into media symbols.
From a technical point of view, this colour print on paper is attributable to the refined silkscreen production of the Factory, the creative workshop through which the artist created his most important editions. The numbered edition, the pencil signature on the reverse and the “Andy Warhol” and “Andy Warhol Enterprises Inc.” stamps also confirm the work’s coherence with the artist’s official production.
Still today “Mao” is considered one of the most emblematic images of twentieth-century art, in this work Andy Warhol managed to merge advertising aesthetics, social criticism and contemporary culture in a composition of extraordinary visual recognizability.
Description: Colour print on paper, bearing on the reverse the pencil signature “Andy Warhol”, edition number 22/250, Andy Warhol stamp and Andy Warhol Enterprises Inc. 1978 stamp, H cm 91.4×91.4
Publications: Andy Warhol Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné 1962-1987’, Feldman/Schellmann/Fourth edition revisited and expanded by Frayda Feldman and Claudia Defendi, D.A.P./ Distributed Art Publishers, pp. 82-83 – no. 11.97 and 352. Printed by: Aetna Silkscreen Products, Inc., New York. Published by: Factory Additions, New York.
Hammer Price: € 6.200,00
Auction 51 – 12 April 2022 – Modern and Contemporary Art, Graphics and Multiples
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