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Art Subject: Face
Lady - Painting by Antonio Feltrinelli- 1930s
Located in Roma, IT
Lady is an orignal modern artwork realized by Antonio Feltrinelli in the 1930s.
Mixed colored oil painting on canvas.
Not signed.
Antonio Feltri...
Category
1930s Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Paint, Oil
Fine 17th Century Italian Old Master Oil Painting Madonna with Christ Child
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Madonna & Christ Child
Italian, 17th century
oil on wood panel, unframed
board: 9.5 x 7.5 inches
provenance: private collection, Paris
condition: very good and sound condition fo...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
Saint Lawrence Looking at the Treasures
Located in Fredericksburg, VA
"Saint Lawrence Looking at the Treasures" is a captivating painting attributed to the Bolognese School, a prominent art movement from Bologna, Italy, flourishing primarily in the 16t...
Category
Late 17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
16th Century by Bernardino Detti Face of Christ Oil on Canvas
Located in Milano, Lombardia
Bernardino Detti (Pistoia, Italy, 1498 - 1572)
Title: Face of Christ
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: without frame 41 x 32 cm - with frame 47 x 55.5 cm
Antique box frame made of solid wood and walnut burl.
Publications: unpublished
The painting by Bernardino Detti (1498 - 1572) depicts the face of Jesus...
Category
16th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
'Figure Seated in Interior', Woman Artist, Berkeley, San Francisco Museum of Art
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Millicent Tomkins' for Millicent Hanson Tomkins (American, 1930-2021) and dated 1959.
Millicent Tomkins began painting at a young age and, as a child, was awarde...
Category
1950s Modern Interior Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Rococò Venetian painter - 18th century figure painting - Virgin child - Italy
Located in Varmo, IT
Venetian painter (18th century) - Madonna with Child.
37.5 x 45.5 cm without frame, 55 x 63 cm with frame.
Antique oil painting on canvas, in a carved wooden frame.
Condition repo...
Category
Early 18th Century Rococo Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
17th Century Holy Family Italian School Madonna and Child Oil on Canvas Blue
Located in Sanremo, IT
Examining with interest this "Sacred Scene" from the end of the 1500s/beginning of the 17th century (oil painting on canvas, 32 x 26 cm without frame and 40 x 33 cm with frame) representing the Madonna supporting the Infant Jesus on her knees, S. Giovannino with the lamb of god, I can say that it is a Cremona school close...
Category
1610s Italian School Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Aced It, Original Painting, Contemporary Portrait, Food art, Coffee and cards
Located in Deddington, GB
An unapologetic woman plays her ace card with the assured confidence of someone who takes her coffee strong and knows exactly what to do when life gives her lemons.
ADDITIONAL INFOR...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Panel, Canvas, Acrylic
Figurative/Portrait_Abstract Figure_Oil/Acrylic/Canvas_Aldalgisa, Rebecca Jack
Located in 326 N Coast Hwy. | Laguna Beach, CA
Rebecca Jack
"Aldalgisa"
Oil & Acrylic on Canvas
24 x 20 in.
25.25 x 21.25 in. Framed
__________________________
Rebecca Jack, an intuitive painter, creates vibrant, figurative w...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Vintage Abstract Expressionist Figurative Oil Painting, Style of Edvard Munch
By Jacqueline (Jackie) Kirk
Located in Soquel, CA
Robert Azensky Fine Art is proud to offer this evocative figurative in Edvard Munch's German Expressionist style by Jackie Kirk (American, b. 1929- 2021), c. 1980. This painting is unique in artist's oeuvre in that she fully embraces a darker, grittier German expressionism style...
Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
Courting Couple with Musical Instrument Antique French Rococo Period Oil
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Courting Couples
French Rococo artist, 19th century
oil on board, framed
framed: 10.5 x 13 inches
board: 9 x 10.5 inches
provenance: private collecti...
Category
19th Century Rococo Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil
King David, Jerusalem (after Marc Chagall) Oil Painting Israeli Judaica Art
Located in Surfside, FL
Framed 41.5 x 29.5 image 35.5 x 23.5
This large painting depicts a man and woman, Adam and Eve, interlocked and embracing one another. The woman holds an enticing apple as they are thrusted from the Garden of Eden.
This is an original painting. Zamy Steynovitz was born in Liegnitz Poland, in 1951. He immigrated to Israel in 1957. The aspiration to be a painter stems from his childhood and before leaving Poland, he won the first prize in an art competition for children.
Zamy was formally educated at the Art School in Tel-Aviv and at the Royal Academy of London. Upon completing his studies, Zamy earnestly pursued his career and establish his place in the art world by displaying his work in one man exhibits and arts fairs around the world.
His art displays chromatic and thematic richness and his choice of subjects has been strongly influenced by Jewish tradition, his Eastern European Jewish heritage and folklore. Zamy’s popular themes include Paris cafes, still-life, flowers, circuses and landscapes. Circus with acrobats and Harlequin. In the early stages of his career, he was partial to rich pastels and light brush strokes.
In the early 1980s, Zamy visited South America, where the new surroundings enhanced his work with local brightness and color. His art gained chromatic power and his palette became richer in tones as the textures became thicker and the background darker and more colorful. These changes coupled with his thematic persistence allowed him to develop into a sensitive and mature artist.
Zamy expresses a universal humanistic vision in his creations: man’s connection to his heritage and physical surroundings, two imperative aspects of our lives that should be heralded during these estranged technological times.
As a result of his devotion to world peace, Zamy is known in the circles of the Nobel Institute for Peace in Norway. He is acquainted with many Nobel Prize winners including Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin, the Dalai Lama, Itzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Elie Wiesel, Desmond Tutu and Oscar Arias, the ex-President of Costa Rica, along with many other politicians and artists. Zamy tragically passed away in September 2000.
Exhibitions One Man Show
1970 - Museum - Ramat - Gan
1973 - Brussels - Gallery L'Angle Aigu
1974 - London - International Gallery
1974 - Paris - Grand Palais Gallery
1975 - Milan - Brera Gallery
1976 - N.Y. Valentino Gallery - N.Y. Hilton
1977 - N.Y. Valentino Gallery - N.Y. Hilton
1978 - Basel - Actual Gallery
1978 - Geneve - Bohren Gallery
1978 - Oslo - Nobel Peace Prize Exhibit
1979 - London - Hamilton Gallery
1979 - N.Y. - Art Israel Kalt - Waldinger Gallery
1979 - N.Y. - Canty Art Gallery
1979 - Amsterdam - Schipper Gallery
1979 - Washington - International Art Fair
1980 - Cleveland -Jewish Museum
1980 - Tel-Aviv - Habima National Art Fair
1981 - Abraham - Goodman House N.Y.
1981 - San Lucas Galley - Bogota
1982 - Pedro Gerson Gallery - Mexico City
1983 - Simon Bolivar...
Category
20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Escuela española (XVIII) - Óleo sobre tela - San Abdón y San Senén
Located in Sant Celoni, ES
Sin firmar, es de autor anónimo
Se presenta sin enmarcar la pintura
El estado de conservación de la obra se puede ver, presenta algunas faltas que precisarán restauración y el bast...
Category
Mid-18th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil
Portrait of a French Military Officer
Located in Milford, NH
A finely detailed oil painting portrait of a French military officer in dress uniform with sword, unsigned, and housed in a period decorative gilt gessoed frame with a London Freeman...
Category
Early 19th Century Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Annunciation
Located in Zofingen, AG
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
"Annunciation" from the "PERICHORESIS SERIES" captures a contemporary and deeply personal interpretation of the moment of divine communication, integrating themes o...
Category
2010s Impressionist Interior Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Warm wind, Shades of Love series
Located in Zofingen, AG
This painting captures a moment of profound intimacy between two people. It depicts tender embraces in an open field, where the vast space and gentle breeze emphasize a sense of free...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
1930's French Oil Painting Portrait of Standing Nude Lady Double Sided Image
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Artists Model
French School, circa 1930's period
oil on board, unframed
board : 14 x 10.5 inches
double sided work
Provenance: private collection, France
Condition: very good con...
Category
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Nude Paintings
Materials
Oil
"O.W. Circles" by Anne Siems, Painting with female portrait, on paper, framed
By Anne Siems
Located in Dallas, TX
Anne Siems has created this artwork by painting and drawing over an archival print on thick 100% cotton fiber paper.
All archival materials.
Unframed size: 8.5x11 inches
Frame size: 15x12x1 inch
ANNE SIEMS
(b. 1965, Germany)
Artist Statement
I was born in Berlin, Germany. From 1969 to 1971 I lived near Buenos Aires, Argentina. My first extended stay in the US was as an exchange student in 1986. Then in 1991, after finishing my MFA in Berlin, I moved to Seattle, WA.
My work has moved from semi-abstract, room-filling plant and insect drawings...
Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Ceramic, Acrylic, Panel
1970's Surrealist Figurative -- "Two Nudes in Interior"
Located in Soquel, CA
Stark, surrealist study of two nude figures in a color saturated room by Clayton Anderson (American, 20th Century), 1970. Signed and dated by the artist, left margin. Presented in a ...
Category
1970s American Modern Nude Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Mid Century French Portrait Seated Woman with Cross Necklace Study
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Seated Woman with Cross Necklace
Artist: Josine Vignon (French 1922-2022)
Medium: signed black pen on artists paper stuck on board, glass covered
Size: 11.5 (height) x 8 (w...
Category
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Ballpoint Pen
Monopoly Man
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Presenting an early oil on newsprint, laid on canvas by American street artist Alec Monopoly.
"Monopoly Man", is an original oil on newspaper, laid on ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil
Woman and flowers oil on board painting Ramón Pichot
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Ramón Pichot Soler (1924-1987) - Woman and flowers - Oil on panel
Oil measures 33x41 cm.
Frameless.
Ramon Pichot i Soler (Figueres, 1924 - Barcelona, May 24, 1996) was a Catalan pai...
Category
1970s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
French 17th Century Baroque Period Old Master Oil Painting Archery Figure
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Baroque Landscape with Figures
French School, 17th century
oil on canvas, framed
Framed: 29.5 x 23.5 inches
Canvas : 25.5 x 19 inches
Provenance: private collection, France
Condition...
Category
17th Century Baroque Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil
Mary Dwyer, Nellie Bly, 2017, watercolor on paper, Suffragists and Journalists
By Mary Dwyer
Located in Darien, CT
The inspiration for Mary Dwyer's work revolves around storytelling, historic events, a love of political cartoons and early portraiture paintings. An integral part of this work is research. Spurred by an innate curiosity, she creates political, historical and personal paintings. In the last few years Dwyer has been researching and painting the American Suffrage movement. In this research she discovered that the people working as both Suffragists and Abolitionists also started their own newspapers and published their own pamphlets. They became journalists, as no one was covering their story.
Dwyer's paintings are a celebration of both the voter’s rights activist and the visual pageantry of the Suffrage movement. The use of color in her Suffrage paintings speak to the vibrant pageantry and the visual marketing used during the movement. Sashes, button, banners, flags and ribbons were made by women and marketed for women.
The significance of free press is paramount in a free and fair society. The importance of journalist has become a theme that has continued in her present work.
Recently she has been working on a Memorial Paintings...
Category
2010s Feminist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Archival Paper
The Oarsman, Original Collier's Magazine Cover Illustration
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Original cover illustration for Collier's Magazine, published June 24, 1916. The image features a handsome young blond man holding oars
Literature:
Laurence S. Cutler and Judy Goff...
Category
1910s Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Pencil
Glow
By Wencke Uhl
Located in New Orleans, LA
Wencke Uhl is a contemporary figurative paintress living and working in Germany.
She draws inspiration from human beauty and the female form. As a teenager Uhl wanted to become a f...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Woman and guitar oil on board painting fauvism
By Jordi Curos
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Jordi Curós Ventura (1930-2007) - Woman - Oil on board.
Work measurements 46x38 cm.
Frame size 64x56 cm.
Jordi Curós Ventura (Olot, Girona, March 4, 1930) is a Spanish painter.
He ...
Category
1980s Fauvist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Board, Oil
Soup Box - Onion (unique painting on canvas)
By Andy Warhol
Located in Aventura, FL
Unique acrylic painting and silkscreen on canvas. Hand signed and dated by Andy Warhol on verso. Martin Lawrence provenance label on verso. Canvas size 20 x 20 inches.
The artwor...
Category
1980s Pop Art Figurative Paintings
Materials
Screen, Canvas, Acrylic
The Hours of Light
Located in Chicago, IL
"Soey Milk crafts beautiful portraits of women that contain elements of calm alongside calamity. She does this by implementing visual push and pull in all of...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Copper
Lady with Books #3 - Surreal painting by Paula Craioveanu Framed
Located in Forest Hills, NY
"Lady with Books 3"
39x23in / 100x60cm
Shipped as it is, stretched, framed. Size framed 41.5x25.7in
Free shipping with 1stDibs code
Lady with Books 3 and Lady with Books 1 - these ...
Category
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Jusepe de Ribera workshop (Italian master) - 17th century figure painting Saint
By Jusepe de Ribera
Located in Varmo, IT
Jusepe de Ribera (Xàtiva 1591 - Naples 1652) circle of - San Giuseppe.
108 x 80 cm without frame, 123 x 95 cm with frame.
Antique oil painting on canvas, in a carved and gilded woo...
Category
Mid-17th Century Baroque Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Anton Telser (Austrian, 1861-1942) Woman in Repose
Located in New York, NY
Woman in Repose by Anton Telser (Austrian, 1861-1942)
A stunning portrait of a reclined woman
Signed A. Telser (lr)
Oil on canvas
25 x 50 inches (63...
Category
19th Century Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil
Vintage Mid Century French Sketch of a Elegant Lady in a Luxurious Fur Stole
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Mid Century French Portrait
Josine Vignon (French 1922-2022)
Medium: Pencil/ charcoal on artists paper, double sided
Size: 12 (height) x 9.5 (width)
Stamped Verso
Condition: Good
Pr...
Category
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Charcoal, Pencil
Virgin of Kataphyge and St. John, after a Byzantine Bulgarian Icon 14th Century
Located in Segovia, ES
The Virgin of Kataphyge with Saint John the Evangelist, after a Bulgarian Byzantine icon of the 14th Century.
Egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and wood.
Author: Oliver Samsinger...
Category
Early 1900s Byzantine Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century French Signed Oil Portrait of a Woman
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of a Young Woman
French artist, mid 20th century
signed oil on board, frames
Framed: 29 x 23 inches
Board : 22 x 15 inches
Provenance: private collection, France
Condition:...
Category
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
Large French 20th Century Oil Nude Lady Reclining, in the Style of Picasso
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: French School, late 20th century
Title: The Nude Model, in the style of Picasso
Medium: oil painting on canvas, framed
frame...
Category
20th Century Abstract Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Large Mid Century French Oil Three Figures Seated Picnic Conversation
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Deep in Conversation
by Pierre Georgeot (French mid 20th century)
oil on canvas, framed
framed: 25 x 30 inches
canvas : 24 x 29 inches
Provenance: private collection, France
Conditio...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Honor Y Beatles 2 - Origami Inspired Figurative Painting on Canvas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Emilio Rama's captivating pop art-inspired paintings featuring origami animal figures are a distinctive and original contribution to the realm of contemporary art. With a vibrant int...
Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
Art Deco French Portrait of a Lady
Located in Cotignac, FR
1920s portrait in oil of a lady of quality by Paul Hercule Hogg. The painting is signed bottom right and is resigned and annotated to the back of the panel. The painting has been var...
Category
Early 20th Century Art Deco Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
PORTRAIT OF UGO FOSCOLO - Antonio Jannone - Italian Oil On Canvas Painting
Located in Napoli, IT
PORTRAIT OF UGO FOSCOLO - Oil on canvas cm.50x40, Antonio Jannone, Italy, 2002.
this beautiful portrait of the Italian poet Ugo Foscolo is the painter's pe...
Category
Early 2000s Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Compassion" (2022) by Louis Recchia, Acrylic & Collage, Pop Art
Located in Denver, CO
Louis Recchia's "Wild Child" is an original, hand made mixed media painting that depicts a girl with a young boy with a fox tail and paws.
Louis Recchia has been producing contempo...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
I was lost but I'm found
Located in Zofingen, AG
This painting will come to you stretched on a wooden stretcher and completely ready to be placed in the interior.
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
"I Was Lost But I'm Found" from the "PERICHORESIS...
Category
2010s Impressionist Interior Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
18th Century Oil on Canvas Biblical Italian Painting Judith and Holofernes
Located in Vicoforte, IT
Wonderful Italian painting from the first half of the 18th century. Oil on canvas artwork depicting a fascinating biblical story, the beheading of the Babylonian leader Holofernes by...
Category
1720s Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Eyes wide open
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Kader Boly is known for painting pastoral and communal scenes from his life as a nomadic herder in the Fulani tribe, on the plains of West Africa. Kader’s w...
Category
2010s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil Pastel, Acrylic, Pencil
Janet and Bill, Surrealist Painting of Woman and Cat w/ Party Hats
By Mary Spain
Located in Beachwood, OH
Mary Spain (American, 1934–1983)
Janet and Bill, 1970s
Oil on canvas
Signed middle right, titled verso
26 x 30 inches
32.5 x 36.5 inches, framed
Set in a realm of fantasy, Mary Spai...
Category
1970s Surrealist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil
Fine 1700's Italian Old Master Ink & Wash Drawing Roman Allegorical Napoli
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
'Napoli'
Italian School, 18th century
ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass)
image size: 10.5 x 7 inches
overall framed: 17 x 13 inches
co...
Category
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper
"Triple Elvis" Denied Andy Warhol Silver Black Pop Art Painting by Charles Lutz
By Charles Lutz
Located in Brooklyn, NY
"Triple Elvis" (Denied) Silkscreen Painting by Charles Lutz
Silkscreen and silver enamel paint on canvas with Artist's Denied stamp of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board.
82 x 72" inches
2010
This important example was shown alongside works by Warhol in a two-person show "Warhol Revisited (Charles Lutz / Andy Warhol)" at UAB Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts in 2024.
Lutz's 2007 ''Warhol Denied'' series gained international attention by calling into question the importance of originality or lack thereof in the work of Andy Warhol. The authentication/denial process of the [[Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board]] was used to create value by submitting recreations of Warhol works for judgment with the full intention for the works to be formally marked "DENIED". The final product of the conceptual project being "officially denied" "Warhol" paintings authored by Lutz.
Based on the full-length Elvis Presley paintings by Pop Artist Andy Warhol in 1964, this is likely one of his most iconic images, next to Campbell's Soup Cans and portraits of Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, and Marlon Brando. This is the rarest of the Elvis works from the series, as Lutz sourced a vintage roll of 1960's primed artist linen which was used for this one Elvis. The silkscreen, like Warhol's embraced imperfections, like the slight double image printing of the Elvis image.
Lutz received his BFA in Painting and Art History from Pratt Institute and studied Human Dissection and Anatomy at Columbia University, New York. Lutz's work deals with perceptions and value structures, specifically the idea of the transference of values. Lutz's most recently presented an installation of new sculptures dealing with consumerism at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater House in 2022.
Lutz's 2007 Warhol Denied series received international attention calling into question the importance of originality in a work of art. The valuation process (authentication or denial) of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board was used by the artist to create value by submitting recreations of Warhol works for judgment, with the full intention for the works to be formally marked "DENIED" of their authenticity. The final product of this conceptual project is "Officially DENIED" "Warhol" paintings authored by Lutz.
Later in 2013, Lutz went on to do one of his largest public installations to date. At the 100th Anniversary of Marcel Duchamp's groundbreaking and controversial Armory Show, Lutz was asked by the curator of Armory Focus: USA and former Director of The Andy Warhol Museum, Eric Shiner to create a site-specific installation representing the US. The installation "Babel" (based on Pieter Bruegel's famous painting) consisted of 1500 cardboard replicas of Warhol's Brillo Box (Stockholm Type) stacked 20 ft tall. All 1500 boxes were then given to the public freely, debasing the Brillo Box as an art commodity by removing its value, in addition to debasing its willing consumers.
Elvis was "the greatest cultural force in the Twentieth Century. He introduced the beat to everything, and he changed everything - music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution." Leonard Bernstein in: Exh. Cat., Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art and traveling, Elvis + Marilyn 2 x Immortal, 1994-97, p. 9.
Andy Warhol "quite simply changed how we all see the world around us." Kynaston McShine in: Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art (and traveling), Andy Warhol: Retrospective, 1996, p. 13.
In the summer of 1963 Elvis Presley was just twenty-eight years old but already a legend of his time. During the preceding seven years - since Heartbreak Hotel became the biggest-selling record of 1956 - he had recorded seventeen number-one singles and seven number-one albums; starred in eleven films, countless national TV appearances, tours, and live performances; earned tens of millions of dollars; and was instantly recognized across the globe. The undisputed King of Rock and Roll, Elvis was the biggest star alive: a cultural phenomenon of mythic proportions apparently no longer confined to the man alone. As the eminent composer Leonard Bernstein put it, Elvis was "the greatest cultural force in the Twentieth Century. He introduced the beat to everything, and he changed everything - music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution." (Exh. Cat., Boston, The Institute of Contemporary Art (and traveling), Elvis + Marilyn 2 x Immortal, 1994, p. 9).
In the summer of 1963 Andy Warhol was thirty-four years old and transforming the parameters of visual culture in America. The focus of his signature silkscreen was leveled at subjects he brilliantly perceived as the most important concerns of day to day contemporary life. By appropriating the visual vernacular of consumer culture and multiplying readymade images gleaned from newspapers, magazines and advertising, he turned a mirror onto the contradictions behind quotidian existence. Above all else he was obsessed with themes of celebrity and death, executing intensely multifaceted and complex works in series that continue to resound with universal relevance. His unprecedented practice re-presented how society viewed itself, simultaneously reinforcing and radically undermining the collective psychology of popular culture. He epitomized the tide of change that swept through the 1960s and, as Kynaston McShine has concisely stated, "He quite simply changed how we all see the world around us." (Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art (and traveling), Andy Warhol: Retrospective, 1996, p. 13).
Thus in the summer of 1963 there could not have been a more perfect alignment of artist and subject than Warhol and Elvis. Perhaps the most famous depiction of the biggest superstar by the original superstar artist, Double Elvis is a historic paradigm of Pop Art from a breath-taking moment in Art History. With devastating immediacy and efficiency, Warhol's canvas seduces our view with a stunning aesthetic and confronts our experience with a sophisticated array of thematic content. Not only is there all of Elvis, man and legend, but we are also presented with the specter of death, staring at us down the barrel of a gun; and the lone cowboy, confronting the great frontier and the American dream. The spray painted silver screen denotes the glamour and glory of cinema, the artificiality of fantasy, and the idea of a mirror that reveals our own reality back to us. At the same time, Warhol's replication of Elvis' image as a double stands as metaphor for the means and effects of mass-media and its inherent potential to manipulate and condition. These thematic strata function in simultaneous concert to deliver a work of phenomenal conceptual brilliance. The portrait of a man, the portrait of a country, and the portrait of a time, Double Elvis is an indisputable icon for our age.
The source image was a publicity still for the movie Flaming Star, starring Presley as the character Pacer Burton and directed by Don Siegel in 1960. The film was originally intended as a vehicle for Marlon Brando and produced by David Weisbart, who had made James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause in 1955. It was the first of two Twentieth Century Fox productions Presley was contracted to by his manager Colonel Tom Parker, determined to make the singer a movie star. For the compulsive movie-fan Warhol, the sheer power of Elvis wielding a revolver as the reluctant gunslinger presented the zenith of subject matter: ultimate celebrity invested with the ultimate power to issue death. Warhol's Elvis is physically larger than life and wears the expression that catapulted him into a million hearts: inexplicably and all at once fearful and resolute; vulnerable and predatory; innocent and explicit. It is the look of David Halberstam's observation that "Elvis Presley was an American original, the rebel as mother's boy, alternately sweet and sullen, ready on demand to be either respectable or rebellious." (Exh. Cat., Boston, Op. Cit.). Indeed, amidst Warhol's art there is only one other subject whose character so ethereally defies categorization and who so acutely conflated total fame with the inevitability of mortality. In Warhol's work, only Elvis and Marilyn harness a pictorial magnetism of mythic proportions.
With Marilyn Monroe, whom Warhol depicted immediately after her premature death in August 1962, he discovered a memento mori to unite the obsessions driving his career: glamour, beauty, fame, and death. As a star of the silver screen and the definitive international sex symbol, Marilyn epitomized the unattainable essence of superstardom that Warhol craved. Just as there was no question in 1963, there remains still none today that the male equivalent to Marilyn is Elvis. However, despite his famous 1968 adage, "If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings" Warhol's fascination held purpose far beyond mere idolization. As Rainer Crone explained in 1970, Warhol was interested in movie stars above all else because they were "people who could justifiably be seen as the nearest thing to representatives of mass culture." (Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol, New York, 1970, p. 22). Warhol was singularly drawn to the idols of Elvis and Marilyn, as he was to Marlon Brando and Liz Taylor, because he implicitly understood the concurrence between the projection of their image and the projection of their brand. Some years after the present work he wrote, "In the early days of film, fans used to idolize a whole star - they would take one star and love everything about that star...So you should always have a product that's not just 'you.' An actress should count up her plays and movies and a model should count up her photographs and a writer should count up his words and an artist should count up his pictures so you always know exactly what you're worth, and you don't get stuck thinking your product is you and your fame, and your aura." (Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again), San Diego, New York and London, 1977, p. 86).
The film stars of the late 1950s and early 1960s that most obsessed Warhol embodied tectonic shifts in wider cultural and societal values. In 1971 John Coplans argued that Warhol was transfixed by the subject of Elvis, and to a lesser degree by Marlon Brando and James Dean, because they were "authentically creative, and not merely products of Hollywood's fantasy or commercialism. All three had originative lives, and therefore are strong personalities; all three raised - at one level or another - important questions as to the quality of life in America and the nature of its freedoms. Implicit in their attitude is a condemnation of society and its ways; they project an image of the necessity for the individual to search for his own future, not passively, but aggressively, with commitment and passion." (John Coplans, "Andy Warhol and Elvis Presley," Studio International, vol. 181, no. 930, February 1971, pp. 51-52). However, while Warhol unquestionably adored these idols as transformative heralds, the suggestion that his paintings of Elvis...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Paintings
Materials
Enamel
Girl in Her Cultural Bead 1 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Woman
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21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
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Materials
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Philippe PARROT
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Signed and dedicated at the top...
Category
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Materials
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Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Materials
Jute, Oil
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Materials
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Category
1870s Folk Art Figurative Paintings
Materials
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Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Madonna in Pensive Thought
English 19th Century, Pre-Raphaelite artist
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Framed: 15 x 10.5 inches
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Category
Late 19th Century Pre-Raphaelite Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
Man and the Machines #4 Paula Craioveanu oil/canvas Neo Mythology FRAMED
Located in Forest Hills, NY
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Category
2010s Post-Modern Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
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This 19th-century portrait by an anonymous artist shows an elderly man seated at his desk, engrossed in writing...
Category
19th Century Academic Interior Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
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Located in Chicago, IL
A Large, Sensational Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Chicago Night Club Showgirl. Painted in the 1950s, this is a large, vertical, abstracted portrayal of a standing Burlesque danc...
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Mid-20th Century American Modern Figurative Paintings
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SPRING BEAUTY - Angelo Granati - Oirtrair of Oil on Canvas Painting
Located in Napoli, IT
SPRING BEAUTY - Oil on canvas painting by Angelo Granati, Italy 2011
Gold leaf gilded, pleated silk and mirror wooden frame ext. mis. cm. 164x106.
This is his reinterpretation of pa...
Category
2010s French School Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil