1974 Flowers

 
 
 

  • Year: 1974
    Medium: Graphite on vellum adhered to paper
    Size: 21.5 x 18.5 in (54.6 x 46.9 cm)
    Frame size: 29.875 x 26.875 in (70.1 x 68.4 cm)

  • Year: Circa 1974
    Medium: Graphite on vellum
    Size: 30.375 x 22.25 in (77.2 x 56.2 cm)
    Frame size: 36.875 x 29.875 in (93.6 x 75.8 cm)

  • Year: 1974
    Medium: Graphite on vellum adhered to paper
    Size: 23.25 x 20.375 in (59 x 51.7 cm)
    Frame size: 30.875 x 27.375 in (78.4 x 69.5 cm)

  • Year: 1974
    Medium: Graphite on vellum, mounted on paper
    Size: 23.75 x 18.875 in (60.3 x 47.9 cm)
    Frame size: 31.125 x 26.875 in (79 x 68.2 cm)

  • Year: Circa 1974
    Medium: Graphite on vellum
    Size: 23.375 x 19.25 in (59.4 x 48.9 cm)
    Frame size: 27.875 x 26.875 in (70.8 x 68.2 cm)

These works have all been authenticated by the Authentication Board of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (stamp on verso), Foundation archive number on verso in pencil, initialed by the person who entered the works into The Foundation archive.

Provenance: 
Estate of Andy Warhol (stamped)
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (stamped)
Long-Sharp Gallery

Flowers would appear, interspersed, throughout every decade of Warhol’s illustrious career. He penned drawings of flowers as early as the 1950s, studying floral compositions and visiting flower markets with friend Charles Lisanby to purchase flowers to sketch. Paintings of flowers from his 1964 exhibit at the Leo Castelli Gallery are some of his most widely recognized works, and his photographs from the 1970s and 1980s are pervasive. [1]

Warhol revisited flowers in 1974 when he created two suites of prints devoted to the subject. (See FS.II.100-109 and FS.II.110-119.) The first set was a suite of 10 flower compositions created in an edition of 100 plus proofs; these are black and white. The second suite of 10 is of the same flower compositions as the first, but, in this latter suite, the flowers were hand colored with Dr. Martin's aniline watercolor dyes like those he used for his projects in the 1950s. Each of these prints is therefore unique. Each of the hand colored flowers was created in an edition of 250 plus proofs. [2]

The drawings here are studies for these two suites, based on Japanese ikebana arrangements. [3]

 

References:
[1] Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann, “Section III B“: Commissioned Projects in Andy Warhol Prints, Fourth edition. (New York, D.A.P. Distributed Art Publishers, INC. 2003), pages 84-87.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Frey, Gina. “Flowers Observed, Flowers Transformed.” Carnegie Online, June 2004, carnegiemuseums.org/magazine-archive/2004/mayjun/feature4.html.