IAN - Saturday, August 30 - Rethinking Andy Warhol

Happy Saturday. Tonight, some art for you.

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Monday: BadKitties Tuesday: ejoanna Wednesday: Caedy Thursday: art ah zen Friday: FloridaSNMOM Saturday: Dave in Northridge Sunday: loggersbrat

Ono of the things about travel is that it can surprise you, and here's what surprised me at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh the week after NN 14. This, I'm sure, is one of the first things you think of when you think of Andy Warhol:

(Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Can [Tomato], 1962; sold by Christie's, New York, 10 Nov 2010, price realized:$9,042,500)

It's such an iconic image, you don't even think about what media he used, and I'd suspect most of us have always assumed this was something mechanically reproduced. That was always my impression. But no, this is a painting. From the Christie's Auction House website:

Andy Warhol’s’ Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato) is arguably one of the most iconic images of the twentieth century. Painted in 1962, at the very birth of the Pop art movement, it contains symbolism that shook the foundations of the art world to its very core. One of the first of Warhol’s silkscreen paintings, the vigorous outlines and delicate patterns of light and shadow are distilled into a conventional, yet strikingly modern image which has gone on to influence popular culture for over fifty years.

You start at the top floor of the Andy Warhol Museum and you are led through his life and work chronologically. On the next floor down, you come upon this LARGE painting: (Andy Warhol [American], 1928-1987); Big Torn Campbell's Soup Can (Pepper Pot), 1962;    casein and graphite on canvas; 71 5/8 x 52 in. [181.9 x 132.1 cm.]; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.)

That's a painting. Done by a really talented artist. Excellent craftsmanship and draftsmanship. It puts the collection of 32 different soup cans at the Museum of  Modern Art in New York (which I had seen the previous month) in an entirely different light.

(Campbell's Soup Cans, 1962; Synthetic polymer paint on thirty-two canvases)

Of course, later, according to the Art Institute of Chicago,

[Warhol] began to utilize the silkscreen process to transfer photographic images to canvas: images of mass-produced consumer products and Hollywood film stars are among his most recognizable subjects.

(Mao, 1973; Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas)

Have a terrific weekend.