Flash (FS II.37) (November 22, 1963 Portfolio)

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Andy Warhol
Flash (FS II.37) (November 22, 1963 Portfolio)
1968

About the Item

From the regular edition of 200. The specific edition number will only be provided to the buyer at the point of sale. Please contact us to request this information at the point of purchase. Title: Flash (FS II.37) (November 22, 1963 Portfolio) Medium: Portfolio of eleven screenprints, colophon, and Teletype text on paper Year: 1968 Size: 21” x 21” Edition: 200, 26 numbered in Roman numerals; 10-lettered A-J has three additional screenprints, each of which is a composite of images from II.33 and II.38. (See II.43A-43C.) Details: Each print, housed in a folder with a page of Teletype text, is signed in ballpoint pen on verso; the colophon is signed and numbered in ballpoint pen. Flash 37 by Andy Warhol is a screenprint from the artist’s Flash series, published in 1968. Flash 37 serves to recall the collective memory of the Kennedy Assassination on November 22nd, 1963. The Flash portfolio features a collection of repurposed news clippings, campaign ads, and photographs from the days following the assassination. Originally, Warhol showed the prints next to varying teletype newswires that described the national tragedy. According to the Nielsen agency, 45.4% of Americans tuned in an hour after Lee Harvey Oswald fired the last bullet. Thus, the media greatly influenced how people would process the event, for days, months, and even years afterwards. Five years after Kennedy’s death, Warhol published the Flash series. Flash 37 depicts a mail-order gun ad for the weapon used to kill JFK: the 6.5 Italian Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle. Perhaps surprisingly, Warhol depicted more guns besides Oswald’s rifle. Warhol painted various gun models 13 years after Valerie Solanas made an attempt on his life. Warhol used Solanas’s .32 snub-nosed revolver as inspiration for many of the prints, titled Gun. The ownership of firearms was just as prevalent in the US as it is today, however the JFK assassination would prompt the Gun Control Act of 1968–the same year of Warhol’s assassination attempt. By focusing on the weapon used by Oswald, Warhol also revealed the loose commercialization of firearms. The convergence of this print with Warhol’s assassination attempt and the 1968 Gun Control Act makes Flash 37 all the more legendary in Warhol’s catalogue. JFK’s assassination became a historical milestone for those alive in 1963, and a date of intrigue for those born afterwards. Warhol was interested in what images the media imparted onto a shocked America: “I’d been thrilled having Kennedy as president; he was handsome, young, smart–but it didn’t bother me that much that he was dead. What bothered me was the way the television and radio were programming everybody to feel so sad. It seemed like no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t get away from the thing.” The media blitz became enough of a sensation to capture Warhol’s attention, and the collective emotional distress that it caused was distressing in and of itself. As tragedy befell presidential fame, the murder of JFK became a fabled moment in time. This pairing of tragedy and fame is evident throughout the Flash series, making it an important cultural artifact from the 1960s. Flash 37 is one of Warhol’s most sincere and deliberate works. The Flash portfolio closely relates to Warhol’s Death and Disaster collection, which presents a variety of gruesome images from newspapers and media headlines.

Creator:
Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987, American)
Creation Year:
1968
Dimensions:
Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 21 in (53.34 cm)
More Editions & Sizes:
Edition of 200, 26 numbered in Roman numerals; 10 lettered A-J have three additional screenprints, each of which is a composite of images from II.33 and II.38. (See II.43A-43C.) Each print, housed in a folder with a page of Teletype text, is signed in ball-point pen on verso; the colophon is signed and numbered in ball-point pen.Price: $10,200
Medium:
Screen
Movement & Style:
Pop Art
Period:
20th Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
West Hollywood, CA
Reference Number:
Seller: FS II.411stDibs: LU26312912562

Shop All Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

The name of American artist Andy Warhol is all but synonymous with Pop art, the movement he helped shape in the 1960s. He was phenomenally prolific, and the archive of original photography, prints, drawings, paintings and other art that he left behind is beyond vast.

Andy Warhol is known for his clever appropriation of motifs and images from popular advertising and commercials, which he integrated into graphic, vibrant works that utilized mass-production technologies such as printmaking, photography and silkscreening. Later in his career, Warhol expanded his oeuvre to include other forms of media, founding Interview magazine and producing fashion shoots and films on-site at the Factory, his world-famous studio in New York.

Born and educated in in Pittsburgh, Warhol moved to New York City in 1949 and built a successful career as a commercial illustrator. Although he made whimsical drawings as a hobby during these years, his career as a fine artist began in the mid-1950s with ink-blot drawings and hand-drawn silkscreens. The 1955 lithograph You Can Lead a Shoe to Water illustrates how he incorporated in his artwork advertising styles and techniques, in this case shoe commercials.

As a child, Warhol was often sick and spent much of his time in bed, where he would make sketches and put together collections of movie-star photographs. He described this period as formative in terms of his skills and interests. Indeed, Warhol remained obsessed with celebrities throughout his career, often producing series devoted to a famous face or an object from the popular culture, such as Chairman Mao or Campbell’s tomato soup. The 1967 silkscreen Marilyn 25 embodies his love of bright color and famous subjects.

Warhol was a prominent cultural figure in New York during the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. The Factory was a gathering place for the era’s celebrities, writers, drag queens and fellow artists, and collaboration was common. To this day, Warhol remains one of the most important artists of the 20th century and continues to exert influence on contemporary creators.

Find a collection of original Andy Warhol art on 1stDibs.