Sunflower
A unique drawing by Andy Warhol
An affinity for flowers can be traced as far back in Warhol’s life as childhood; his mother, Julia Warhola, went door-to-door selling metal flowers she made (from Campbell’s soup cans, no less), while Andy and his brothers waited for her in the bushes. According to his brother, John, Andy planted a little flower bed outside the family home, and Andy could be found sketching flowers and butterflies while his brothers were on the baseball field.
Drawings of 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 he continued variations within this theme until his death in 1987.
Year: circa 1956
Medium: Ink on paper
Size: 17.875 x 11 .5 in (45.4 x 29.2 cm)
Frame size: 28 x 19.5 in (71.1 x 49.5 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.
On view at The Treasure House Fair 2023. Request an e-catalog of works here.
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