LIZ #3 |ANDY WARHOL
THE EXHIBIT
Valued at some $400 million, this latest collection of artwork represents the largest donation in the Art Institute of Chicago’s history. In total, 44 iconic works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns and other from more current artists were donated to make up the bulk of the New Contemporary exhibit. The collection, which includes paintings and scultpures, was donated by Chicago-based collectors Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson. Prior to this donation, Chicago was not considered to be on the forefront of debuting Pop Art, but this one donation changed that forever. Stefan Edlis was a Holocaust survivor and grew up in Vienna, Austria only to escape to the United States in 1941 at the age of 15. Edlis famously founded Apollo Plastics Corporation in Chicago in 1965 and started buying art in the late 1960s without any formal training. In the beginning, he only bought art made out of plastic, but stopped when he realized that dealers told artists to use plastic because Edlis would buy it. He then focused on Postwar and Pop Art, with original paintings by Roy Lichtenstein hanging in his bedroom. While they donated a near fortune, hid wife, Gael Neeson, 71, will keep around 200 pieces of art. Warhol makes up a considerable core of this group of 42 pieces, and arguably helped define American pop and commercial art as we know it. The major thread of this collection is pop art, its precursors and its influence. Andy Warhol was a very peculiar figure, often speaking emotionless tone about his work and downplaying his process. It is due to his bold, socio-politically charged work, yet underwhelming ability to tell the story behind it, that makes his impact one of the more fascinating to the modern art world. Featured in this essay is his Liz #3 print, made in 1963, which is currently on display in the New Contemporary at the Art Institute of Chicago.
CSDESIGN 501 T he New Contempor ar y: Andy Warhol Liz #3
Andy Warhol Jasper Johns Lichenstein Rauschenberg Jeff Koons Murakami
THE ARTIST
Andy Warhol
WHAT WAS THE ARTIST’S UPBRINGING? Andy Warhol was an American artist who emerged from the poverty of an Eastern European immigrant family in Pittsburgh. He exhibited artistic talent from a very young age which was nurtured by his mother. From early childhood, his fascination with starlets and fame would be at the forefront of his art making and he would grow to obsess over “beautiful things”. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture, advertisement and commercial art. As a talented draughtsman, his first professional occupation as an artist was for Glamour Magazine in New York City.
WHAT WAS THE ARTIST INFLUENCED BY? Andy Warhol was influenced and obsessed with beauty.
WHAT WAS HIS INFLUENCE ON GRAPHIC DESIGN: Once called a “Killer of art,” by American Dutch artist Willem de Kooning, Andy fought hard against critics for much of his working life. He was a commercial artists and critics were outraged by Warhol’s open embrace of market culture. His impact extended beyond the art world and changed the way that consumers thought about their surroundings. He said, “What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca-Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca-Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca-Cola, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.”
Although he had crippling self esteem and self-image issues, his goal was to ultimately find a place in the circles of High Society.
His work also tells you about design and art during the 60’s.
He was inluenced by media, icons of pop culture and everything
It was a direct reflection of the consumerist and commercial
around him. Through his work, he tried to redefine our sense of
emphasis, tells you about marketing and serves as a
beauty and change how we look at everyday things.
historical refernce point and reflection.
WHAT WAS THE ARTIST’S STATE OF MIND WHILE CREATING THE WORK AT HAND? Warhol began painting portraits of starlets around 1962 after the suicide of Marilyn Monroe. He became fascinated with the juxtoposition of fame and fortune contrasted with death and destruction. Warhol began the Liz pictures while she was recovering from her emergency 1961 tracheotomy. She was already very much in the public eye with her multiple divorces, stints in rehab, weight gain and tacky media opportunities. In Warhol’s pictures of Taylor lurk her tragic sexuality, tragicomic survival, excess, and ridiculous love. At this time, before he opened The Factory in 1964, we had already become fascinated by beautiful people and people who lived loudly.
CSDESIGN 501 T he New Contempor ar y: Andy Warhol Liz #3
THE WORK Liz #3
WHAT IS THE COMPOSITION? Colorblocked organic blobs of color The painting and color came first then silk screened on top of it.
WHAT IS THE SUBJECT MATTER? Warhol chose the base image for this painting from a publicity shot of her 1960 film, Butterfield 8. He created this portrait when Taylor was at the height of stardom, but was also very ill with pneumonia. Andy loved women and the power of the feminine, and the women he loved most
HOW IS IT A REFLECTION OF THE CULTURE OR CONTEXT THAT SURROUNDED IT? Warhol was obsessed with celebrity and glamour. He is bringing a new technique to painting, and that is the silk screen, a means of photomechanical reproduction that comments on the way Liz Taylor’s image circulates in the culture at large. By his use of the silk-screen process mixed with high-key acrylic paint, Warhol imbued Liz #1 (Early Colored Liz) with a kind of tragic radiance. And by re-using the silk screen of the ‘50s publicity photo for other portraits of the film star and tabloid fixation, Warhol investigated through multiplicity the commodification of
and best were Marilyn, Jackie and Liz. Many of the paintings made in his heyday, between 1962 and 1965, were of them. Like the women themselves, the pictures of Liz exude a primitive hit of graphic power, stunning color, seething glamour, repressed sexuality and flawed beauty.
WHAT IS THE ARTIST’S MAIN GOAL? Andy like to record and iconify wealthy and glamorous people that were already prominent figures in the public eye. The hook, seduction, what would resonate with the viewer.and what would. To see the theater of art. The brilliance that sustained them fades away.
WHAT IS THE EFFECT ON THE VIEWER? What started as a widely distributed media photo is now obscured and we are unable to clearly interpret anything. The image is not painterly so you don’t get a feel for his process or see the artist in the image. While bring very flat, the bold color screams a very loud message. image manipulation, overexposure, divadom, iconicity, victimhood, vampire, parody, celebrity, cult heroes, lost soul, loving freakiness, queerness and fearlessness.
CSDESIGN 501 T he New Contempor ar y: Andy Warhol Liz #3
public image, glamour and fame.
From top left, clockwise: Liz #1, 1963; Liz (Early Coloured Liz), 1963; Liz #3, 1963; Liz FS II.7, 1964; .
THE COLOR PALETTE
He often worked with found images and would project them up onto the wall often tracing the images. He uses mostly artificial colors and claims that he doesn’t know how to find a flesh colors. For the Liz series, he used jewel tones to reflect her persona and image in the public eye as she was often draped in jewels and wearing a full face of makeup. He would often print the same images multiple time over using various color combinations to infer different moods or interpretations and affect the overall impact on the viewer. THE PROCESS
He chooses simple designs. He chose to focus mainly on portraiture in the early 1960’s. He would often print at least 200 of the same image. First, he takes a colored picture and turns it into a black and white photograph. He blows the picture, often a 40” x 40” image, and has a silkscreen image made up from the photo. He would then print and re print using different colo combinations and letting the ink clog and splash in unique ways. He is bringing a new technique to painting, and that is the silk screen, a means of photomechanical reproduction that comments on the way Liz Taylor’s image circulates in the culture at large.
“Can a painting be a painting if it doesn’t have drips?”
CSDESIGN 501 T he New Contempor ar y: Andy Warhol Liz #3
w
contemporary glamour pop culture celebrity commercial