Andy Warhol

Andy WarholAndy Warhol, the 'Pop Czar' of New York, created work from the immense fund of visual material that already existed and was familiar in the world around him: from consumer articles and images of the stars to reproductions of famous artworks. In the early sixties he paraphrased Leonardo's Mona Lisa, in the early eighties he created his 'paintings about paintings' by Botticelli, Raphael, Munch and de Chirico. In 1985 86 he devised his Last Supper series

Andy Warhol, the 'Pop Czar' of New York, created work from the immense fund of visual material that already existed and was familiar in the world around him: from consumer articles and images of the stars to reproductions of famous artworks. In the early sixties he paraphrased Leonardo's Mona Lisa, in the early eighties he created his 'paintings about paintings' by Botticelli, Raphael, Munch and de Chirico. In 1985/86 he devised his Last Supper series for an exhibition which took place in the Palazzo Stelline in Milan in 1987 - directly opposite the Dominican Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie which contains Leonardo's wall-painting. This last exhibition of Warhol's work held during his lifetime, presented 22 unstretched screen-prints, although Warhol had in fact created more screen-prints than this, plus 27 paintings, 47 works on paper and 'collaborations' with Jean Michel Basquiat - namely the provocative Punching Bags. This comprehensive group of works by the Catholic believer adds to the legend of Warhol and is revealingly illuminated in its various aspects by the scholarly essays in this publication. (German edition available ISBN 3-89322-952-3)