Andy Warhol
(Pittsburgh 1928–1987 New York)
Babs, ca. 1956, inscribed Andy Warhol, ink, gold and silver leaf and collage on strong paper, 29 x 39 cm, framed
The work will be sold without certificate.
Provenance:
Private Collection, Germany
Literature (compare):
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, February 1989 - February 1990, Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, exhib.-cat. Munich 1989, no. 39, p. 107 with col.-ill.
“In the 1950s Andy was interested in his environment and his jobs: shoes, shoes, shoes and more shoes; his friends, flowers, butterflies, cats; people young and old; and above all, movie stars, who have had a fascination for Warhol”
(Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol: Die frühen Werke, 1942-1962, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1987, p. 12).
The lady’s shoe as both motif and subject in the work of Andy Warhol is perhaps the most multifaceted and enduring element within his entire œuvre. Its origins lie in the early 1950s, when Warhol was still working as a commercial illustrator for magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, as well as for the shoe manufacturer I. Miller and Sons. For his work for the latter, he was dubbed by Women's Wear Daily the “Leonardo da Vinci of the shoe industry”. Accompanied by playfully devised captions, or named after iconic film stars such as Julie Andrews, he endowed each imaginary shoe-object with its own vivid quality and distinct personality: “…involved every day drawing shoes for advertisements, Andy began to give them the individual character traits of ‘famous’ people – film actors and friends. He personalized the objects, capturing the essence of Mae West or Elvis Presley’s personality in that vera saleable product, the shoe. Andy Warhol made his subtle, ironic insights even more pointed by applying gold leaf to heighten the already superficial aura” (Crone 1987, p. 12).
The first series of shoe portraits is the portfolio À la Recherche du Shoe Perdu, published in 1955. It is here that the calligraphic and unmistakable script appears for the first time (thereafter a constant feature of Warhol’s drawings) executed by his mother. ‘Babs’, with its elegant and classical form, a slender stiletto heel, and an opulent, iridescent collage embellishment, stands as a paradigmatic expression of the glamorous, consumption-oriented American lifestyle of the mid-twentieth century.
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
(Pittsburgh 1928–1987 New York)
Babs, ca. 1956, inscribed Andy Warhol, ink, gold and silver leaf and collage on strong paper, 29 x 39 cm, framed
The work will be sold without certificate.
Provenance:
Private Collection, Germany
Literature (compare):
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, February 1989 - February 1990, Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, exhib.-cat. Munich 1989, no. 39, p. 107 with col.-ill.
“In the 1950s Andy was interested in his environment and his jobs: shoes, shoes, shoes and more shoes; his friends, flowers, butterflies, cats; people young and old; and above all, movie stars, who have had a fascination for Warhol”
(Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol: Die frühen Werke, 1942-1962, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1987, p. 12).
The lady’s shoe as both motif and subject in the work of Andy Warhol is perhaps the most multifaceted and enduring element within his entire œuvre. Its origins lie in the early 1950s, when Warhol was still working as a commercial illustrator for magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, as well as for the shoe manufacturer I. Miller and Sons. For his work for the latter, he was dubbed by Women's Wear Daily the “Leonardo da Vinci of the shoe industry”. Accompanied by playfully devised captions, or named after iconic film stars such as Julie Andrews, he endowed each imaginary shoe-object with its own vivid quality and distinct personality: “…involved every day drawing shoes for advertisements, Andy began to give them the individual character traits of ‘famous’ people – film actors and friends. He personalized the objects, capturing the essence of Mae West or Elvis Presley’s personality in that vera saleable product, the shoe. Andy Warhol made his subtle, ironic insights even more pointed by applying gold leaf to heighten the already superficial aura” (Crone 1987, p. 12).
The first series of shoe portraits is the portfolio À la Recherche du Shoe Perdu, published in 1955. It is here that the calligraphic and unmistakable script appears for the first time (thereafter a constant feature of Warhol’s drawings) executed by his mother. ‘Babs’, with its elegant and classical form, a slender stiletto heel, and an opulent, iridescent collage embellishment, stands as a paradigmatic expression of the glamorous, consumption-oriented American lifestyle of the mid-twentieth century.
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
