Andy Warhol Studies for a Boy Book 1956:
A rare sought-after, 1950s Andy Warhol designed poster invitation published on the occasion of: Warhol's 'Studies for a Boy Book', held at the Bodley Gallery and Bookshop Feb. 14 - March 3, 1956. A rare early Warhol collectible that seldom comes to market. Not to be passed upon.
Medium: Offset lithograph on wove paper. Framed in glass.
Dimensions: 15.75 x 13.5 inches (40 x 34.3 cm).
Framed dimensions: 24h x 26w inches.
Good overall vintage condition; fold-lines as originally issued;
Unsigned from an edition of unknown. Rare.
With the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Authorization ink-stamps on the reverse; initialed 'T.J.H.' by Timothy J. Hunt of the Andy Warhol Foundation and annotated 'XX-07.16' and 'PM19.0242' in pencil on the reverse.
Provenance:
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York
Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York
Private Collection, New York
Further Background:
"In the 1950's Warhol self-published a large series of artist’s books & hold parties at Serendipity 3, a restaurant and ice cream parlor on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where his friends would help him hand color his books. In 1956, he presented a solo exhibition at the Bodley Gallery called Studies for a Boy Book. These sketchbook drawings of portraits of young men and erotic portrayals of male nudes contrasted with the work of other contemporary gay artists, such as Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, who considered Warhol 'too swish.' (source: The Andy Warhol Museum)
Collections:
The Art Institute of Chicago
Further background:
Warhol’s career began as a commercial illustrator on New York’s Madison Avenue in 1949, during the massive post-war economic boom. His arrival additionally coincided with an extensive change in the motivations and strategies behind advertising, utilizing applied psychology to influence American consumers to purchase products. This stint as an ad man would further his Pop interest in cultural commercialization and start his artistic career; thus began the first chapter of Warhol’s oeuvre, dominated by charming and light-handed ink drawings.
As a master of line and contour, Warhol’s consistent and unique drawings and designs piqued the interest of his clients, earning him commissions and collaborations with some of the biggest brands of the day: Tiffany & Co., Columbia Records, and Vogue, to name a few. Though stylistically different from the Pop, these early drawings offer a glimpse at an artist well on his way to establishing an art movement that would change the way the world conceived of contemporary art and its connection to pop culture, morphing from his early successes in the commercial art scene.
The simple yet sophisticated line drawings contain... his favorite things: cherubs, shoes, cats, and often young men. Across these drawings and hand-colored prints, we see Warhol as a compulsive creator, documenting life and fantasy with the stark clarity of ink on paper." (source: Phillips)
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Obsessed with celebrity, consumer culture, and mechanical reproduction, Pop Art king, Andy Warhol created some of the 20th century’s most iconic images. Warhol was widely influenced by popular & consumer culture, with this being evident in some of his most famous works: 32 Campbell's soup cans, Brillo pad box sculptures, and portraits of Marilyn Monroe & Mick Jagger, for example. Rejecting the standard painting and sculpting modes of his era, Warhol embraced silk-screen printmaking to achieve his characteristic hard edges and flat areas of color. The artist mentored Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat and continues to influence contemporary art around the world: His most bold successors include Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, and Jeff Koons. Warhol has been the subject of exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, and Centre Pompidou, among other institutions.
Related Categories
1950s Andy Warhol. Vintage Andy Warhol. Mid century modern. Pop Art.
Andy Warhol advertising...