Unidentified Male

In 1957, Warhol began a series of portraits which were to be compiled into a "Boy Book" -- a book which was never finished, though many of the ballpoint drawings were shown at the Bodley Gallery (“Studies for a Boy Book by Andy Warhol”) from February 14-March 3, 1956. Although the book was not completed, the drawings that were to comprise that book "are fundamental to Warhol's personal and artistic development… helping achieve greater clarity in dealing with his homosexuality and creativity... Sometimes the sitter is lovingly surrounded by hearts, ribbons, flowers or other attributes that turn the motif into still life, such as a book or shells" (Nina Schleif, Reading Andy Warhol at page at page 30, footnotes omitted.). According to Michael Dayton Hermann of the Andy Warhol Foundation of the Visual Arts, the drawings show an “emotional vulnerability” atypical of Warhol’s work. (Hermann’s book, Andy Warhol: Early Drawings of Love, Sex, and Desire, was published by Taschen in 2020.)