Busacca Gallery

Artist Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987) 5-1/2" x 8-3/8" "Shoe". Drawing on gray paper with white pencil, hand signed at the lower right, titled at the upper right, not framed. Traces of another shoe sketch verso. Condition: Small nick in the right edge of the paper, age toning. The rarity of these works, coupled with the dwindling great signed drawing examples are hard to find in the market today. dually capture a specific time in both Warhol’s practice and the history of his art. An Early Work. Demonstrating his evolution from commercial artist to Pop icon. This art work shows techniques that Warhol learned as a commercial artist became the vehicles he later employed to mass produce his artwork and create the Warhol brand. "We see from Warhol's early commercial work how astute he was and how he constructed an identity for himself that made him a household name. Warhol has been cited as one of the most famous and famously controversial American artists of the second half of the 20th century. His astute eye explored the inventory of American contemporary consumerism in the '50s and '60s, and he wrestled with issues of artistic appropriation and mass production. A child of poor Czech immigrants, Andy Warhola was born and raised in an industrial section of Pittsburgh. In 1949, after formative experiences at Carnegie Tech (Carnegie Mellon), Andy Warhola came to New York to start a career as a commercial artist. In the 11 years that followed, Warhola became Warhol-generating a peculiarly "personalized" portfolio-each piece marking what is now regarded as one of New York's most successful careers in commercial illustration. Andy Warhol became one of the most recognized American Pop artists of his day. His art, which was characterized by techniques and themes drawn from mass culture, employed the use of pseudo-industrial silkscreen process to create "commercial objects" such as Campbell soup can paintings. Warhol also used this same technique to portray celebrities such as Jackie Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger, and Marilyn Monroe, as well as images of Chairman Mao and, yes, cows. The man who invented Pop Art, who gave everyone 15 minutes of fame, who startled us with images of Campbell's soup cans and serial portraits of Marilyn, Elvis, and Liz -- Andy Warhol has always been delightfully controversial. Jumbled assemblages of shoes and other commercial products, including Warhol’s iconic soup cans and Brillo boxes. Warhol often deploys multiplication and varying degrees of order to alter and enliven quotidian objects. Andy Warhol, became well known for his shoe drawings. While working for Bazaar magazine Warhol created hundreds of illustrations but most of the works no longer exist, as it was not usual to return artwork to the artist and Bazaar does not have an artwork archive. Most of the illustrations only survive within the spreads of the vintage issues. Warhol's, illustration work started in the 1950's "Warhol found almost immediate success after arriving in New York...Armed with a portfolio of his student drawings and a degree in pictorial design from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). Shortly after arriving in New York, Warhol began illustrating for Haper's Bazaar. He collaborated with Bazaar editors for thirteen years. The best way to sum up Andy’s commercial artistry: “Business suits, lipsticks, insanely pointy shoes, long girdles, floral hats, pearls, perfume, brocade boots — the Warhol illustrations epitomize sweet post-war optimism, abundance, and fun! I envy his ability to draw inspiration from simple things in department stores and then transform them into elevated (but witty) pieces of art.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol

Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States of America dedicated to a single artist.

Warhol's art encompassed many forms of media, including hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, and music. He was also a pioneer in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were introduced in 1984, two years before his death. He founded Interview Magazine and was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. He is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay liberation movement. His studio, The Factory, was a famous gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons.

Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films. He coined the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame". Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$100 million for a 1963 canvas titled Eight Elvises. The private transaction was reported in a 2009 article in The Economist, which described Warhol as the "bellwether of the art market". Warhol's works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold.