Alex Katz

Vincent (Rare Proof Gifted by Alex Katz to his sister)

1972

This work was published for the exhibition, American Jesus, held 13 July - 18 September 2010 at Paul Kasmin, New York in cooperation with Fred Torres Colla...

SUPER RARE! Invitation Card to private Andy Warhol Memorial Lunch, from the Estate of Tim Hunt, 1987 Offset lithograph card 6 1/2 × 3 3/5 inches Unframed This exclusive invitation to the private memorial lunch for Andy Warhol is an historic collectors item. Few people in the world own this card other than those who were invited to the event and/or their heirs, though it has occasionally appeared at public auction now that another generation has passed. This offset lithograph invitation card to Andy Warhol's Memorial Lunch at the Diamond Horseshoe in the Paramount Hotel bears an image of Andy Warhol's iconic 1967 Marilyn on one side, and on the other side is an announcement that reads as follows: ANDY WARHOL A Memorial Lunch Wednesday, April 1, 1987 The Diamond Horseshoe 235 West 46th Street New York City Special thanks to: Carillon Importers Caffe Condotti Glorious Food All leftover food and flowers will be donated to the homeless program at Church of the Heavenly Rest. Marilyn - Andy Warhol 1967 The provenance of this card is impressive as it comes from the estate of Warhol Foundation curator and sales agent Tim Hunt, who was married to bestselling author Tama Janowitz, author of "Slaves of New York". Tama would describe how she met Tim Hunt as follows:  "Andy Warhol died in 1987. In the long hot summer after, I bought a tiny basement apartment on West 70th Street over by West End Ave. That’s when I met Tim Hunt. A model for Werther’s Caramel and Ralph Lauren who’d gone to Oxford and had a brother who was a famous race car driver, he’d been with Christie’s a few years and had come over from England to work on the Warhol estate. He would later become my husband. Andy would have loved Tim. But the two had never met..." The event in this invitation is the more exclusive Memorial Lunch on April 1st 1987, held prior to Warhol's Memorial Mass at St. John the Divine, later that evening, the latter of which was attended by thousands of people. The press referred to this earlier event as a "Special Memorial Lunch Party" - using the vernacular of the day, as everything in the mid to late 1980s seemed like a party - until it was not. Interestingly, no start time, or even time range, is mentioned on this invitation - something that is rarely if ever missing from such an item; further evidence that it wasn't enough just to get this card; one had to already be in the know to be able to attend. Either that, or the lunch party was going on all day - so invitees could show up whenever they wanted. Or, alternatively, it was simply an accidental omission with no hidden message. And another side note: one of the sponsors of this Memorial luncheon, Carillon Importers, is the holding company or importer for Absolut Vodka, which commissioned Andy Warhol to create a series of advertising ads that would comprise one of the most successful, award-winning advertising campaigns of the era - and the most successful of the company's history. Who attended this event? Probably everybody who was anybody in the nexis of art, celebrity, high fashion and big business. Getty images features photographs by celebrity paparazzo Ron Galella of some of Warhol pals entering or leaving the Diamond Horseshoe for this exclusive event including Dianne Brill...