92
147
Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
BE A SOMEBODY WITH A BODY, c.1985
synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas
signed and dated on reverse; stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and by the Andy Warhol
Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. and numbered [PA 10.614] on the reverse; also stamped by the
Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board with an ID number [A157.0310] on the reverse
8 by 10in. (20 by 25cm)
Provenance:
The Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., New York;
Private collection, New York;
Christie’s, New York, Post-War and Contemporary Art, 9 May 2012, lot 270
Literature:
To be included in a forthcoming volume of
The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, Paintings and
Sculptures
, ed., Georg Frei and Neil Printz, New York;
New York, Museum of Modern Art, ‘Andy Warhol, A Retrospective, 1989’, exhibition catalogue, no.
436, p.386, illustrated (another example);
Andy Warhol: Heaven and Hell Are Just One Breath Away! Late Paintings and Related Works, 1984-
1986
, Rizzoli, New York, 1992, a double
Be a Somebody with a Body
, illustrated p.60 and 61
(another example);
Andy Warhol 365 Takes
, The Andy Warhol Museum, Abrams, NY, 2004, (another example)
illustrated in colour, p.97
Germano Celant
, Super Warhol
, Skira/Grimaldi Forum Monaco, 2003, catalogue no. 248, p.485,
illustrated (another example)
Andy Warhol is synonymous with Pop Art, consumerism and the cult of celebrity. Through the medium of
silkscreen printing he reinforced the idea of manufactured beauty which he saw in everything from
Campbell’s Soup cans to Coca Cola, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley.
In the 1980s Warhol returned to advertising as a source of inspiration. His earlier output of the 1960s pivoted
on the promises of ad men from cheap magazines and resulted in works such as
Before and After, 1961
which
was the genesis of his obsession with image, physical beauty and later the cult of celebrity.The subject of the
present work,
Be a Somebody with a Body,
uses the muscular image of a bodybuilder (sourced from an
untraced ad) projected against a canvas.Warhol emphasises the message through the use of bold graphic
text; a BODY makes you a SOMEBODY.The figure’s defined torso and confident pose is highlighted by a halo
that radiates from his head; a detail that nods to another late series by the artist based on Leonardo da Vinci’s
mural
The Last Supper.
In that series he isolated the figure of Jesus from his disciplines and transplanted him
next to an image of a bodybuilder; the gospel according to Warhol.
€
40,000-
€
50,000 (£33,060-£41,320 approx.)
WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
