Busacca Gallery

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967 / From the original silkscreens, European version. Andy was supposed to sign and number them. Andy's agent Leo Castelli, stopped him and strongly recommended that he not sign them. Leo Castelli, Informed Andy if he were to sign them that it would devalue the prints that were already created in the first editions. So Andy totally disappeared and never sign them. Fascinating story! They were published in original colors. From the "original screenprints" Unfortunately, they were never numbered or signed. Upsetting the publisher who had an agreement with Warhol. The first edition of the Marilyn and Flowers series was very successful and many hoped the artist would print another edition. In the 1970s Warhol worked with German and Belgian printers for his European exhibitions. They proposed an edition of the Marilyn’s and Flower’s for the European market and Andy supposedly agreed To publish The addition. However, Warhol changed his mind. Warhol was not interested and refused to help with a European edition. The original screens were brought to Europe anyway and the first unauthorized prints were produced in slightly different colors from the original portfolio. The edition of 250 unauthorized prints was stamped in black on verso, “Published by Sunday B. Morning” and “Fill in Your own Signature.” Andy Warhol inscribed some prints, “This is not by me” and was well aware of the European editions and came to accept them as they were printed and published by two of his close friends. Known as the Marilyn series. The original series, made up by 10 screenprints with the same image but with different colors, was created in 1976. Carried out on Aetna Silkscreen Products Inc.’s museum board, these were edited by the company Factory Additions. They have a size of 91 x 91 cm (36 x 36 inches) and belong to an edition of 250 copies, some of which were signed by the artist and others inscribed with his initials. In some of them the date was written, in some others wasn’t. There were also 26 portfolios done that belonged to artist proofs, signed and inscribed from A to Z. The Maryland Artwork, In a December 2, 2004 article in The Guardian, the painting was named the third most influential piece of modern art in a survey of 500 artists, critics, and others. Without a doubt, this is the most valuable series of all that have been released, having been paid for one complete Marilyn portfolio up to 1.5 million dollars. The work was completed during the weeks after Marilyn Monroe's death in August 1962. based on a single publicity photograph from the film Niagara (1953). Thought to symbolize Monroe's life and mortality. The picture can also be said to represent her career in film, or the photographs of her in magazines. By Artist Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, c.1970 edition of 250. From the original screens & portfolio. These are from the European edition. unauthorized prints. In the 70’s Warhol worked with German and Belgian printers. The original screens were brought to Europe anyway and the first unauthorized prints were produced in different colors from the original portfolio. The edition of 250 unauthorized prints were stamped in black on verso: Warhol was well aware of the European edition of Marilyn prints and came to accept them as they were printed and published by two of his friends. Marilyn Monroe, c.1970: Color screenprint on museum board with the highest quality archival inks, (from a set of 10) after the original Marilyn Monroe screenprints by Andy Warhol. Stamped in blue ink, "Published by Sunday B. Morning" and "fill in your own signature," verso. Published by Sunday B. Morning. In excellent condition. 

Sheet size: 35 7/8" x 35 7/8". In 1967, Andy Warhol made a Portfolio of 10 screenprint portraits of Marilyn Monroe from the publicity photo for the 1953 film “Niagara.” The portfolios of 10 screenprints were printed in an original edition of 250. All of the prints from the original edition of 250 were signed in pencil and numbered with a rubber stamp on verso; some signed in pen; some initialed on verso; some dated. Aside from this edition, 26 complete sets of Artist’s Proofs were printed, signed and lettered A-Z on verso. Printed by Aeta Silkscreen Products, inc., New York. Published by Factory Additions, New York. The first edition of the Marilyn series was very successful and many hoped the artist would print another edition. In the 70’s Warhol worked with German and Belgian printers for his European exhibitions. They proposed an edition of the Marilyns for the European market. However, Warhol was not interested at the time and refused to help with the European edition. The original screens were brought to Europe anyway and the first unauthorized prints were produced in different colors from the original portfolio. The edition of 250 unauthorized prints were stamped in black on verso: "Published by Sunday B. Morning" and "Fill in Your own Signature.” Some prints are inscribed by Andy Warhol: "This is not by me", Warhol was well aware of the European edition of Marilyn prints and came to accept them as they were printed and published by two of his friends. Due to the popularity of the first unauthorized edition, Sunday B. Morning continued publishing Marilyns. The subsequent edition was published in original colors, not numbered, and was stamped in blue ink to mark the difference with the first edition. Leo Castelli's gallery showcased contemporary art for five decades. In 1957, he opened the Leo Castelli Gallery in a townhouse at 4 E. 77th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues in New York City. From the mid-1960s through the 1970s, the gallery was perhaps the most prominent commercial venue for art in the world. In 1958, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns joined the gallery, signaling a turning away from Abstract Expressionism, towards Pop Art, Minimalism and Conceptual Art. From the early 1960s through the late 70s, Frank Stella, Larry Poons, Lee Bontecou, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Morris, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Cy Twombly, Ronald Davis, Ed Ruscha, Salvatore Scarpitta, Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman, Lawrence Weiner and Joseph Kosuth joined the stable of Castelli artists. He gave Johns, Stella, and Lichtenstein their first one-man shows. Castelli also pioneered a stipend system that was unknown in New York when he opened his gallery. He put his artists on a payroll whether or not their work sold. For this and other reasons, desertions were initially rare among his artists. When Castelli discovered Serra in 1967, for example, he offered him a guarantee of three years of monthly payments even though he did not expect to sell any of the unknown sculptor's lead-plate work in that time. Castelli also was known for spotting new talent and insisting on European exposure for his American artists, leading to Rauschenberg in 1964 becoming the first American to win the Venice Biennale's international grand prize in painting. Andy Warhol was one of the most prolific and popular artists of his time, using both avant-garde and highly commercial sensibilities.

Warhol. Monroe. When you hear these names there's surely only one classic image which comes to mind. It was one single photo of Marilyn Monroe which was enough for Andy Warhol to make an iconic series of pop art portraits which have outlived both of them. Warhol began producing his Marilyn portraits shortly after her death in 1962. The decision to use the publicity photo as the basis of his series sparked much controversy and provoked conversation as to how much an artist can appropriate a readymade motif before it becomes a legal issue. With the notoriety that these screenprints have garnered for over forty years, it has been said that Warhol created an icon out of an icon, extending her fame and celebrity status far beyond the normally allotted “15 minutes of fame.” This image is one of the world’s most influential pieces of Modern art. Instead of drawing or painting her face, Warhol chose an existing photo he knew almost anyone would recognise. But why Monroe? Marilyn embodies celebrity status and the notion of being a 'sex symbol'. Featuring famous people in pop art became one of the defining characteristic of the movement throughout the 60s: it is an ironic commentary about mass media's obsession with celebrity culture. In 1962, Warhol became extremely excited about photographic silkscreen printing. It was this technique that would become Warhol's most definitive style: it was simple, quick and he could perform slight modifications to the same photo over and over again. It is hard to imagine, but it was pure coincidence Warhol decided to portray Marilyn Monroe in one of his earliest, and undoubtably his most famous, works of pop art. She ended her life that same month, and her beautiful face, as well as her fame, seemed a great foundation for his repetitive print and cartoon-like artwork. The pop art movement already existed before Warhol got involved with it: it began in the mid 50s in Britain. And in some ways it's bizarre to think that Warhol was an artist before his pop art work. In fact, during the 1950s, Warhol was a very successful commercial illustrator for brands including Tiffany & Co., Vogue and Glamour magazine. And yet it's as though the two define one another. And to this day, Warhol and Pop Art are perhaps synonymous with one another. Art experts and historians have many theories about the symbolism hidden in the Marilyn portraits; about the reasons Warhol used certain colours and compositions; about the message he supposedly tried to pass on to society. Andy Warhol himself however, claimed to be very transparent. “If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it”, he once stated. Warhol tried to hide any indication of sentiment or artistic intention but it is undeniable that he put a lot of thought into his works, the Marilyn series included. And no matter the message, that image of Marilyn will live on, an embodiment of the incredible pop art movement, perhaps forever. Warhol's enigmatic personal life has been the subject of much debate. He is widely believed to have been a gay man, and his art was often infused with homoerotic imagery and motifs. However, he claimed that he remained a virgin for his entire life.

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

Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement. He worked in a range of media, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, film, and music. He founded Interview Magazine and was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. Andy Warhol 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". In his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The Andy Warhol Museum celebrates his life and work.

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". $100 million is a benchmark price that only Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre–August Renoir, Gustav Klimt and Willem de Kooning have achieved.