Three Male Busts
A set of three unique drawings by Andy Warhol
The three drawings presented here were found in this order in one of Warhol’s sketchbooks. They appear to be drawings of a marble bust in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; indeed, it has been in the museum’s collection since 1911. It is extremely likely that Warhol sketched the series of drawings after encountering the Roman bust during one of his trips to The Met.
Warhol’s interest in the Renaissance more generally would reemerge later in his career. His Details of Renaissance Paintings suite from 1984 transforms and reinterprets images by Da Vinci, Botticelli, and Uccello. Further, the word “renaissance,” from the French for “rebirth,” may have held special meaning for Warhol, who, it is suggested, may have believed that being around beautiful people could enhance one’s own beauty (Rodley 2001, 21:30).
Year: circa 1955
Medium: Black ballpoint pen on paper
Size: 16.75 x 12 in (42.5 x 30.4 cm) (each)
Framed size: 24.5 x 21.75 in (62.2 x 55.2 cm) (each)
Provenance:
Estate of Andy Warhol (stamped)
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (stamped)
Long-Sharp Gallery
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.