Cake

A unique drawing by Andy Warhol

From his proclamations at dinner parties, “Oh, I only eat candy,” to his “usual” Frozen Hot Chocolate drink at the New York City café Serendipity 3, Andy Warhol’s affinity for chocolate and sweets is legendary. Perhaps less known is that it appears to have been genetic: his mother, Julia Warhola, is quoted as being persuaded to marry Warhol’s father, Andrej, in part because he gave her candy.[1] Her love for sweets was instilled in Warhol early and was perhaps subconsciously related to his creativity; Warhol recounts childhood memories of receiving candy bars in exchange for every page completed in his coloring book.[2] During his decades in New York, entries from his diary recount visiting several candy shops and chocolatiers, including one instance when he stopped into a candy shop intending to sell them advertising space in Interview magazine, but ended up “buying $200 worth of candy instead.”[3]

 

Year: Circa 1956
Medium: Ink on paper
Size: 23.875 x 17.875 in (60.6 x 45.4 cm)
Frame size: 33.75 x 23.25 in (85.7 x 59.1 cm)

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.

 
 

 

[1] Wayne Koestenbaum, Andy Warhol: A Biography (New York: Open Road, 2001), 22, reprinted in New York Times, September 16, 2001, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/16/books/chapters/andy-warhol.html.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Andy Warhol, The Andy Warhol Diaries, ed. Pat Hackett (New York: Warner Books, 1989), 156.