Any serious discussion of Andy Warhol’s original works on paper must begin by dismantling a persistent misconception: that drawing and works on paper were merely ancillary to his silkscreens. In reality, paper was Warhol’s first professional territory, the site where his visual language was forged long before repetition, factories, or mechanical coolness became part of the mythology.

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

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Introduction

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Warhol’s debut as an artist was not in painting or printmaking, but as a commercial illustrator, most notably in the late 1940s and early 1950s. After graduating from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, he moved to New York and quickly established himself through drawings published in fashion magazines such as Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vogue. His early shoe drawings—elegant, whimsical, and unmistakably personal—are foundational to understanding his relationship with paper. These works were executed using the blotted-line technique, a process in which ink is transferred from one sheet to another before drying, producing broken, trembling contours that are simultaneously mechanical and intimate. Each drawing is inherently unique, even when the same motif is repeated, because the transfer can never be perfectly controlled.

These early shoe drawings are not merely commercial artifacts; they are original works on paper that already articulate Warhol’s lifelong preoccupations with glamour, consumer desire, and surface. Gold leaf and hand-applied color were frequently added, introducing a dialogue between luxury and fragility that would later reappear in his fine art. In works such as À la recherche du shoe perdu (1955), Warhol elevated fashion illustration into a hybrid form that blurred the boundaries between applied art and fine art, using paper as both stage and substance.

Gold leaf, in particular, plays a critical role in Warhol’s early works on paper. Influenced by Byzantine icons encountered during his Catholic upbringing, Warhol used gold not as decoration but as a conceptual device. Applied to drawings of shoes, angels, or devotional motifs, gold leaf collapses the distinction between sacred icon and commercial object. On paper, this material choice is especially charged: the preciousness of gold confronts the vulnerability of the sheet beneath it. These early works anticipate, with remarkable clarity, Warhol’s later strategies of elevating banal imagery through scale, repetition, and context.

As Warhol transitioned into the early 1960s, original works on paper remained central to his practice. Drawings of Coca-Cola bottles, dollar signs, flowers, and faces appear first on paper before being translated into paintings or silkscreens. These sheets often retain a provisional quality, but they are not preparatory in a conventional sense. Rather, they function as autonomous explorations where form is tested, simplified, and emotionally charged. The hesitations of line, the uneven pressure of the hand, and the occasional intrusion of collage or wash all assert the irreducible presence of the artist.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Warhol continued to produce unique works on paper alongside his more public-facing print production. Ink drawings, watercolor portraits, and mixed-media works reveal a sustained engagement with the body, particularly in portraiture and erotic drawings. On paper, Warhol permits vulnerability. Faces sag, eyes drift, proportions falter. These are not images designed for mass circulation but for private resolution, where identity appears unstable and unresolved.

Materially, these works resist the myth of Warhol as purely mechanical. Ink bleeds unpredictably; watercolor stains refuse containment; graphite lines remain exposed and uncorrected. Even when Warhol revisits familiar imagery, originality lies in contingency rather than design. Each sheet records a specific moment of touch and decision, something fundamentally absent from editioned works.

Seen through this lens, Warhol’s original works on paper are not secondary to his paintings and prints but structurally prior to them. They form the backbone of his artistic intelligence, revealing an artist who understood reproduction only because he first mastered intimacy. Paper, for Warhol, was where images were allowed to be uncertain, precious, and human—long before they were allowed to become icons.

For collectors and institutions, this distinction is decisive. To encounter Warhol through original works on paper is to engage with the artist before the mask of repetition fully sets in. These works offer not a quieter Warhol, but a more exposed one—where fragility, devotion, and ambition coexist on a single sheet.

 

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Auction Market Overview

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2025 Auction Highlights

27 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 5,052,694. With 5 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 84.4%. The highest price in 2025 was achieved by the iconic Cagney, a work on paper dated 1964, from The Collection of Leonard and Louise Riggio, that sold at Christie’s, in New-York, on 12 May 2025, for USD 2,349,000.

2025 Top 6 Lots

10 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 4,347,992, representing 86.1% of the total turnover of 2025.

2024 Auction Highlights

26 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 3,134,013. With 4 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 86.7%. The highest price in 2024 was achieved by Astronauts, a rare work on paper dated 1963, that sold at Sotheby’s, in New-York, on 1 March 2024, for USD 635,000.

2024 Top 6 Lots

7 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 2,309,543, representing 73.7% of the total turnover of 2024.

2023 Auction Highlights

31 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 6,119,275. With 8 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 79.5%. The highest price in 2023 was achieved by Birth of Venus (after Boticelli), a rare work on paper dated 1984, that sold at Sotheby’s, in New-York, on 19 March 2023, for USD 2,601,000.

 

 

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2026 Auction Results

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Molly, circa 1956

Property from a Prominent New York Collection
Phillips New-York: 28 February 2026
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 412,800

Andy Warhol Modern & Contemporary Art

Winged Child, circa 1957

Christie’s New-York: 26 February 2026
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 139,700

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Winged Child | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Winged Child, circa 1957
Gold leaf and ink on paper
18×23 inches (45.7 x 58.4 cm)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., stamps
Numbered ‘289.006’ (on the reverse)

 

 

 

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2025 Auction Results

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For lots sold over USD 20,000
Excluding the Blau collection sold at Dorotheum in Vienna on 27 March 2025

27 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 5,052,694. With 5 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 84.4%. The highest price in 2025 was achieved by the iconic Cagney, a work on paper dated 1964, from The Collection of Leonard and Louise Riggio, that sold at Christie’s, in New-York, on 12 May 2025, for USD 2,349,000.

2025 Top 6 Lots

10 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 4,347,992, representing 86.1% of the total turnover of 2025.

XXXXXXXXXX

#1. Cagney, 1964

Leonard & Louise Riggio: Collected Works
Christie’s New-York: 12 May 2025
Estimated: USD 2,500,000 – 3,500,000
USD 2,349,000
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Cagney | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Cagney, 1964
Silkscreen ink on paper laid down on paper
30 3/8 x 40 inches (77.2 x 101.5 cm)
Signed and dated ‘Andy Warhol 64’ (on the reverse)

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USD 1 million

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#2. The Last Supper, 1986

Christie’s New-York: 15 May 2025
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 453,600
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), The Last Supper | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
The Last Supper, 1986
Silkscreen ink and colored paper collage on paper
23 5/8 x 31 3/8 inches (60×80 cm)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. stamps
Numbered ‘VF 40.026’ (on the reverse)

#3. Untitled (Floral Still Life), circa 1956

Van Ham Cologne: 3 December 2025
Estimated: EUR 100,000 – 150,000
EUR 264,000 / USD 307,805
WORK ON PAPER

Modern | Post War | Contemporary | Galerie Thomas | The Jagdfeld Collection | Andy Warhol-Ohne Titel (Floral Still Life) | Van Ham Kunstauktionen

ANDY WARHOL (1928 Pittsburgh, PA/USA – 1987 New York)
Untitled (Floral Still Life), circa 1956
India ink, watercolor, gold leaf and silver paper on paper
16 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches (42.5 x 34.9 cm)
Signed lower right: Andy Warhol
Verso lower left with the stamp of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board and the number A121.089

#4. The Last Supper, 1986

Christie’s New-York: 30 September 2025
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 279,400
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), The Last Supper | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
The Last Supper, 1986
Silkscreen ink and colored paper collage on paper
23 5/8 x 32 inches (60 x 81.3 cm)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. stamps
Numbered ‘VF 40.025’ (on the reverse)

#5. Margaret Truman, 1956

Christie’s London: 6 March 2025
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 176,400 / USD 225,792
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Margaret Truman | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Margaret Truman, 1956
Gold leaf, silver appliqué and ink on paper
10 x 12 7/8 inches (25.5 x 32.8 cm)
Signed and titled ‘Margaret Truman Andy Warhol’ (lower center)

#6. Beatrice Lielie, 1956

Christie’s London: 6 March 2025
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 176,400 / USD 225,792
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Beatrice Lielie | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Beatrice Lielie, 1956
Gold leaf, silver appliqué and ink on paper
13 1/8 x 20 1/8 inches (33.3 x 51.1 cm)
Signed and titled ‘Beatrice Lielie Andy Warhol’ (lower centre)

#7. Queen Elizabeth, circa 1977

Christie’s London: 16 October 2025
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 107,950 / USD 144,655
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Queen Elizabeth | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Queen Elizabeth, circa 1977
Silkscreen ink, acetate and colored paper collage on paper
41 1/4 x 31 inches  (104.7 x 78.9 cm)
Signed ‘Andy Warhol’ (lower centre)

#8. Cherub, circa 1957

Property from an Important Private Collection, Japan
Christie’s New-York: 20 November 2025
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 133,350
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Cherub | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Cherub, circa 1957
Ink, watercolor and gold leaf on paper
19 1/2 x 13 1/4 inches (49.5 x 33.7 cm)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. stamps
Numbered ‘VF 289.020’ (on the reverse)

#9. Wedding Cake, circa 1959

Property from an Important Private Collection, Japan
Christie’s New-York: 20 November 2025
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 114,300
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Wedding Cake | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Wedding Cake, circa 1959
Ink, watercolor, gold appliqué and printed paper collage on paper
28 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches (72.4 x 57.2 cm)
Signed ‘A. Warhol’ (lower right)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. stamps
Numbered ‘VF 290.004’ (on the reverse)

#10. Seated Monkey with Baby Monkey, circa 1957

Property from an Important Private Collection, Japan
Christie’s New-York: 20 November 2025
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 114,300
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Seated Monkey with Baby Monkey | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Seated Monkey with Baby Monkey, circa 1957
Ink, gold leaf and gold appliqué on colored paper
22×16 inches (55.9 x 40.6 cm)
Signed ‘Andy Warhol’ (lower center)

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USD 100,000

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#11. Statue of Liberty-Fabis, 1986

Phillips London: 18 October 2025
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 58,050 / USD 77,785
WORK ON PAPER

Andy Warhol Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale

#13. Peter, 1956

Christie’s London: 26 June 2025
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 100,000
GBP 50,400 / USD 69,310
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Peter | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Peter, 1956
Gold leaf, gold appliqué and ink on paper
23×12 inches (58.4 x 30.5cm)
Signed and titled ‘Peter Andy Warhol’ (lower right)

#14. Queen Beatrix, circa 1985

Dorotheum Vienna: 21 May 2025
Estimated: EUR 40,000 – 50,000
EUR 56,500 / USD 64,075
WORK ON PAPER

Andy Warhol – Contemporary Art I 2025/05/21 – Realized price: EUR 56,500 – Dorotheum

ANDY WARHOL (Pittsburgh 1928–1987 New York)
Queen Beatrix, circa 1985
Graphite on strong paper, on the reverse
40 1/8 x 30 7/8 inches (102 x 78.5 cm)
With the stamps of the Andy Warhol Estate and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
With archive no. TOP 56.003

#15. Cowboys and Indians: Man with a Horse, 1986

The Collection of Baron Diego von Buch
Christie’s London: 5 June 2025
Estimated: GBP 15,000 – 25,000
GBP 45,360 / USD 61,610
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Cowboys and Indians: Man with a Horse | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Cowboys and Indians: Man with a Horse, 1986
Graphite on paper
40 3/8 x 30 1/4 inches (102.6 x 77 cm)
Stamped with The Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts stamps
Numbered ‘VF 73.051’ (on the reverse)

#16. Skull, circa 1978

Phillips New-York: 28 February 2025
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 50,800
WORK ON PAPER

Andy Warhol – New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art, New York Friday, February 28, 2025 at EST | Phillips

#17. Sans titre (Carte de vœux de mariage pour Adrian Allen), 1956-57

#18. Untitled, circa 1958

#19. Man Ray, 1974

#20. Absolut, circa 1986

#21. Committee 2000, 1982

#22. “Zigzag” Train, 1983

#23. Halston Advertising Campaign: Women’s Accessories, 1982

#24. Untitled (Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato)), circa 1975

#25. Romy Schneider: Something of a Revelation, circa 1963-1964

#27. Philippe de Rothschild, 1974

For over three decades, the Daniel Blau Gallery has made a name for itself as one of the world‘s leading providers of works on paper, presenting established masters of the 20th century as well as important new discoveries. A particular focus has been on the early works of pop art icon Andy Warhol. After 35 years and many successful exhibitions, Daniel Blau will now break new ground and concentrate more on book editions and photography. For this reason, his gallery has entrusted us with its collection of almost four hundred works on paper for auction, including over two hundred works by Andy Warhol. The top lot from the collection is Untitled (Portrait of a Woman), a drawing dated 1953, that sold for EUR 56,500 (USD 61,015). Most of the lots sold for less than USD 10,000.

Untitled (Portrait of a Woman), c. 1953

Dorotheum Vienna: 27 March 2025
Estimates not provided
EUR 56,500 / USD 61,015
WORK ON PAPER

Andy Warhol – Andy Warhol – The 1950s Drawings 2025/03/27 – Realized price: EUR 56,500 – Dorotheum

ANDY WARHOL (Pittsburgh 1928–1987 New York)
Untitled (Portrait of a Woman), c. 1953
Ink, graphite and tempera on paper
7 x 6 5/8 inches (17.8 x 16.7 cm)
With archive no. ARD 404.024

Lots Passed

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Gun, 1981-82

Sotheby’s London: 25 June 2025
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
WORK ON PAPER
PASSED

Gun | Contemporary Day Auction | 2025 | Sotheby’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Gun, 1981-82
Synthetic polymer paint, silkscreen ink and diamond dust on paper
22×40 inches (56 x 101.6 cm)
Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
With the number UP27.02 on the verso

Kate Smith, 1956

Dollar Sign, 1981

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2024 Auction Results

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26 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 3,134,013. With 4 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 86.7%. The highest price in 2024 was achieved by Astronauts, a rare work on paper dated 1963, that sold at Sotheby’s, in New-York, on 1 March 2024, for USD 635,000.

2024 Top 6 Lots

7 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 2,309,543, representing 73.7% of the total turnover of 2024.

XXXXXXXXXX

#1. Astronauts, 1963

Sotheby’s New-York: 1 March 2024
Estimated: USD 600,000 – 800,000
USD 635,000

Astronauts | Contemporary Curated | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Astronauts, 1963
Screenprint on Strathmore paper, in 6 parts
45 x 85 3/8 inches (114.3 x 216.9 cm)
Each sheet stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Each sheet numbered (clockwise from the upper left sheet) 117.004, 117.001, 117.005, 117.006, 117.002 and 117.003, respectively (on the verso)

#2. Flash (Robert Kennedy), 1968

Christie’s New-York: 22 November 2024
Estimated: USD 500,000 – 700,000
USD 541,800

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Flash (Robert Kennedy) | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Flash (Robert Kennedy), 1968
Screenprint on paperboard
21×21 inches (53.3 x 53.3 cm)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. stamps
Numbered ‘T.J.H 033+UT.001’ (on the reverse)

#3. Ambulance Disaster, circa 1963

Christie’s New-York: 22 November 2024
Estimated: USD 400,000 – 600,000
USD 441,000

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Ambulance Disaster | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Ambulance Disaster, circa 1963
Silkscreen ink on paper
40 x 30 1/8 inches (101.7 x 76.4 cm)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. stamps and numbered ‘UP 67.05’ (on the reverse)

#4. Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato), 1981

Christie’s New-York: 22 November 2024
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 277,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato) | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato), 1981
Graphite on paper
40 1/4 x 30 1/2 inches (101.8 x 77.5 cm)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. stamps
Numbered ‘VF 13.001’ (on the reverse)

#5. Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), circa 1978

Phillips London: 27 June 2024
Estimated: GBP 120,000 – 180,000
GBP 152,400 / USD 193,243

https://www.phillips.com/detail/andy-warhol/UK010424/35

#7. Mao, 1973

Sotheby’s New-York: 1 March 2024
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 101,600

Mao | Contemporary Curated | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Mao, 1973
Graphite on paper
36 1/8 x 36 1/8 inches (91.8 x 91.8 cm)
Signed (on the verso)

#8. Dollar Sign, 1982

Sotheby’s London: 2 August 2024
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 40,000
GBP 72,000 / USD 92,610

Dollar Sign | Contemporary Discoveries | 2024 | Sotheby’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Dollar Sign, 1982
Silkscreen on paper
39 3/4 x 21 7/8 inches (100.8 x  55.6 cm)
Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. with the number A178.984 on the verso

#9. Gun, 1981-82

Phillips London: 8 March 2024
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 57,150 / USD 73,435

Andy Warhol 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

ANDY WARHOL
Gun, 1981-82
Silkscreen and diamond dust on Lenox Museum board
22×40 inches (56 x 101.6 cm)
Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Initialed ‘WF’ and numbered ‘UP27.02’ on the reverse

#10. Skull, circa 1978

Phillips New-York: 15 May 2024
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 69,850

Andy Warhol – Modern & Contemporary Art… Lot 145 May 2024 | Phillips

#11. Self-Portrait, 1978

Rago: 22 May 2024
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 69,300

127: ANDY WARHOL, Self-Portrait < Post War & Contemporary Art, 22 May 2024 < Auctions | Rago Auctions

The Disquieting Muses, 1982

Christie’s New-York: 20 November 2024
The Collection of Mica Ertegun
Estimated: USD 18,000 – 25,000
USD 50,400

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), The Disquieting Muses | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
The Disquieting Muses, 1982
Pencil on paper
35 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches (89.1 x 58.7 cm)
Signed and dated ‘Andy Warhol 82’ (lower right)

Cover for ‘Trombone By Three, Jay Jay Johnson, Kai Winding, Bennie Green,’ Prestige Records, circa 1956

Christie’s New-York: 20 November 2024
The Collection of Mica Ertegun
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 25,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Cover for ‘Trombone By Three, Jay Jay Johnson, Kai Winding, Bennie Green,’ Prestige Records | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Cover for ‘Trombone By Three, Jay Jay Johnson, Kai Winding, Bennie Green,’ Prestige Records, circa 1956
Ink on acetate
12 x 12 1/4 inches (30.5 x 30.7 cm)
Signed ‘Andy Warhol’ (lower left)

 

 

 

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2023 Auction Results

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#1. Birth of Venus (After Botticelli), 1984

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 May 2023
Estimated: USD 350,000 – 450,000
USD 2,601,000
WORK ON PAPER

Birth of Venus (After Botticelli) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Birth of Venus (After Botticelli), 1984
Silkscreen ink on paper
58 7/8 x 82 inches (152.1 x 208.3 cm)
Executed circa 1984, this work is unique

#2. St. George and the Dragon (After Paolo Uccello), 1984

The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: an Era Defined
Sotheby’s New-York: 9 November 2023
Estimated: USD 450,000 – 650,000
USD 444,500
WORK ON PAPER

St. George and the Dragon (After Paolo Uccello) | The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: An Era Defined | Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
St. George and the Dragon (After Paolo Uccello), 1984
Silkscreen ink on paper
60×83 inches (152.4 x 210.8 cm)
Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and numbered A891.116 on the verso

#3. Golden Nude, 1957

Christie’s London: 13 October 2023
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 308,700 / USD 374,655
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Golden Nude | Christie’s (christies.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Golden Nude, 1957
Ink and gold leaf on paper
20×16 inches (51 x 40.6 cm)
Signed ‘Andy Warhol’ (lower left)

#4. Enna Jetticks, circa 1955

Sotheby’s New-York: 28 September 2023
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 254,000
WORK ON PAPER

Enna Jetticks | Contemporary Curated | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Enna Jetticks, circa 1955
Screenprint on paper
34 1/4 x 49 1/4 inches (87 x 125.1 cm)
Titled (center right)

#5. Campbell’s Tomato Soup, 1983

Sotheby’s New-York: 9 November 2023
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 215,900
WORK ON PAPER

Campbell’s Tomato Soup | The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: An Era Defined | Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

#6. Marilyn Monroe, 1980

Sotheby’s New-York: 9 November 2023
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 209,550
WORK ON PAPER

Marilyn Monroe | The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: An Era Defined | Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Marilyn Monroe, 1980
Graphite on paper
32×24 inches (81.3 x 61 cm)

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USD 200,000

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#7. Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) [Reversal Series], circa 1978

Property from a Private Collection, Ohio
Sotheby’s New-York: 19 May 2023
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 196,850
WORK ON PAPER

Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) [Reversal Series] | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) [Reversal Series], circa 1978
Silkscreen ink on paper
Image: 17×14 inches (43.2 x 35.6 cm)
Sheet: 30 3/8 x 21 5/8 inches (77.1 x 54.9 cm)
Stamped © ANDY WARHOL (on the verso)

#8. Muhammad Ali, 1978

Sotheby’s New-York: 16 November 2023
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 165,100
WORK ON PAPER

Muhammad Ali | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Muhammad Ali, 1978
Graphite on paper
31 1/4 x 23 3/4 inches (79.4 x 60.3 cm)

#9. Butterfly, 1956

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 320,000 – 480,000
HKD 1,234,800 / USD 157,645
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987), Butterfly | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Butterfly, 1956
Ink, gold leaf and gold applications on paper
15 x 22 7/8 inches (38.1 x 58.1 cm)
Stamped with the Andy Warhol Estate stamps
Numbered ‘A0.3739 284.015 88.368 D1313’ (on the reverse)

#10. Untitled, 1952

The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: an Era Defined
Sotheby’s New-York: 9 November 2023
Estimated: USD 180,000 – 250,000
USD 152,400
WORK ON PAPER

Untitled | The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: An Era Defined | Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Untitled, 1952
Graphite and gouache on paper
28 1/2 x 22 inches (72.4 x 59 cm)

#11. Mao, 1973

Christie’s New-York: 10 March 2023
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 138,600
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Mao | Christie’s (christies.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Mao, 1973
Graphite on paper
40×30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Signed, initialed, and dated twice ‘Andy Warhol 1973 AW 73’
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol stamp and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts stamp
Numbered ‘43.002’ (on the reverse)

#12. Unknown Male, circa 1957

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 May 2023
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 127,000
WORK ON PAPER

Unknown Male | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Unknown Male, circa 1957
Ink and gold leaf on paper
Sight: 16 1/2 x 11 1/8 inches (41.9 x 28.3 cm)
Sheet: 23 x 14 1/4 inches (58.4 x 36.2 cm)
Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Numbered VF279.004 on the verso

#13. Double Mona Lisa, 1978

Christie’s New-York: 10 March 2023
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 100,800
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Double Mona Lisa | Christie’s (christies.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Double Mona Lisa, 1978
Silkscreen ink on paper
35×45 inches (88.9 x 114.3 cm)
Stamped ‘Andy Warhol Enterprises, Inc. 1978’ (lower left)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol stamp (on the reverse)

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USD 100,000

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#14. Jean Cocteau, 1983

Sotheby’s Paris: 14 December 2023
Estimated: EUR 15,000 – 20,000
EUR 88,900 / USD 97,745
WORK ON PAPER

Jean Cocteau | Collection Hubert Guerrand-Hermès, L’hôtel de Lannion | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Jean Cocteau, 1983
Screenprint, paper collage and pencil on paper
31 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (80×62 cm)
Signed; bears the stamp of the estate on the reverse

#15. Dollar Sign, 1981

Phillips New-York: 16 May 2023
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 95,250
WORK ON PAPER

Andy Warhol 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

ANDY WARHOL
Dollar Sign, 1981
Marker on HMP paper
31 3/8 x 23 inches (79.7 x 58.4 cm)
Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc., New York
Initialed and numbered “VF 24.039” on the reverse

#16. The Golden Boot—Stuart Preston, 1956

Christie’s New-York: 29 September 2023
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 94,500
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), The Golden Boot&#8212;Stuart Preston | Christie’s (christies.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
The Golden Boot—Stuart Preston, 1956
Metal leaf, foil appliqué collage and ink on paper
23 x 11 7/8 inches (58.4 x 30.2 cm)
Signed and partially titled ‘Stuart Preston Andy Warhol’ (lower right)

#17. Gun, 1985

Christie’s New-York: 10 November 2023
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 88,200
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Gun | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Gun, 1985
Silkscreen ink on paper
22 x 39 7/8  inches (55.9 x 100.8 cm)
Stamped with the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc. and © Andy Warhol 1981 stamps
Numbered ‘A165.984’ (on the reverse)

#18. Querelle, 1982

Phillips London: 3 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 72,390 / USD 86,830
WORK ON PAPER

Andy Warhol 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

ANDY WARHOL
Querelle, 1982
Graphite on paper
30 1/2 x 39 3/4 inches (77.5 x 101 cm)
Signed ‘Andy Warhol’ lower right

#19. David (David Rockefeller), 1957

A Life of Beauty: The Collection of John Cheim
Sotheby’s New-York: 16 November 2023
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 76,200
WORK ON PAPER

David | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
David (David Rockefeller), 1957
Gold leaf and ink on paper
14×12 inches (35.6 x 30.5 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and titled (lower left)

#20. Figures on a Busy Street, circa 1956

Phillips Hong-Kong: 25 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 450,000 – 650,000
HKD 444,500 / USD 56,735
WORK ON PAPER

Andy Warhol Disruptors: Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Design and Watches

ANDY WARHOL
Figures on a Busy Street, circa 1956
Ink and Dr. Martin’s aniline dye and ballpoint on paper
17 3/8 x 14 3/4 inches (44 x 37.6 cm)
Stamped and numbered ‘The Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. VF311.005’ on the reverse

#21. Lips, circa 1975

Christie’s online: 18 July 2023
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 56,700
WORK ON PAPER

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Lips | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Lips, circa 1975
Screenprint and tape collage on paper
8 x 8 3/4 inches (19.7 x 22.2 cm)

 

 

 

 

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2022 Auction Results

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WORK IN PROGRESS

#1. Living Room, 1948

Phillips New-York: 15 November 2022
Estimated: USD 250,000 – 450,000
USD 315,000

Andy Warhol 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

ANDY WARHOL
Living Room, 1948
Tempera, watercolor, ink, graphite and collage on paper
15 x 19 3/4 inches (38.1 x 50.2 cm)
Accompanied by the artist’s original course assignment text affixed to the reverse

#2. Untitled (Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts), circa 1977

Christie’s New-York: 13 May 2022
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 252,000

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Untitled (Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts) | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Untitled (Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts), circa 1977
Photo transfer on acetate and paper collage on paper
19 x 17 1/2  inches (48.3 x 44.5 cm)
Signed ‘Andy Warhol’ (lower right)
Stamped with the Andy Warhol Authentication Board, Inc. stamp and numbered ‘A117.107’ (on the reverse)

This collage was created as an image for the album design for the Rolling Stones record, “Love You Live”, which was released in 1977 and is represented on the inside jacket cover of the album.

#3. Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato Soup), 1985

Collection André Mourgues, Alexandre Iolas et ses artistes
Sotheby’s Paris: 17 March 2022
Estimated: EUR 50,000 – 70,000
EUR 138,600 / USD 154,305

Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato Soup) | Collection André Mourgues, Alexandre Iolas et ses artistes | 2022 | Sotheby’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato Soup), 1985
Ink on paper
15 9/16 x 11 1/4 inches (39.5 x 28.5 cm)
Signed Andy Warhol and dated 85 lower right

#4. Gun, circa 1981-1982

Phillips New-York: 19 May 2022
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 126,000

Andy Warhol – 20th Century & Contempora… Lot 145 May 2022 | Phillips

#5. Myths, Uncle Sam, circa 1981

Sotheby’s London: 13 September 2022
Estimated: GBP 15,000 – 20,000
GBP 88,200 / USD 103,100

Myths, Uncle Sam | Contemporary Curated | 2022 | Sotheby’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Myths, Uncle Sam, circa 1981
Charcoal on paper
31 3/8 x 23 5/8 inches (79.6 x 60.1 cm)
Signed

#6. Dollar Sign, 1981

Sotheby’s London: 3 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 75,600 / USD 101,160

Dollar Sign | Modern & Contemporary Day Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Dollar Sign, 1981
Marker and acrylic paint on RPM paper
31 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches (80×60 cm)
Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
With the number 24.032 on the reverse

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USD 100,000

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#7. Untitled (Pepsi Cans), circa 1984

Phillips London: 4 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 69,300 / USD 91,930

Andy Warhol – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 157 March 2022 | Phillips

#8. Campbell’s Wonton Soup, 1981

Christie’s New-York: 14 December 2022
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 88,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Campbell’s Wonton Soup | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Campbell’s Wonton Soup, 1981
Graphite on paper
31 1/4 x 23 1/2 inches (79.4 x 59.7 cm)
Signed, inscribed and dated ‘Jon Andy Warhol 1981’ (lower edge)

Twenty-five years the artist’s junior, Jon Gould would be Andy Warhol’s longest and last romantic relationship. He was handsome, young and a vice president at Paramount Pictures when the two met in late 1980. Andy was infatuated immediately, spending a good deal of time and effort winning over Jon’s affection. He was so smitten that at one point, Warhol had his Factory assistants silkscreen hearts as a Valentine’s Day present for Jon.  Jon and Andy were together between the years of 1981 and 1985. The Hollywood denizen stayed with Warhol in the artist’s Manhattan townhouse anytime he visited the city. The artist even suggested that he would help Jon build a collection of his own, and Gould did in fact make a point of actively acquiring contemporary art. While not blind to the possible business connections the charming executive could introduce, in Jon’s presence, Andy was vulnerable in a way that deviated from his typical distant, mechanical persona.

#9. Alex Guiness, 1956-1957

Christie’s New-York: 29 September 2022
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 75,600

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Alex Guiness | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Alex Guiness, 1956-1957
Gold leaf and ink on paper
10 x 18 7/8 inches (25.4 x 47.9 cm)
Signed and titled ‘Alex Guiness Andy Warhol’ (lower edge)

#10. Untitled (Avanti), 1962

Phillips London: 4 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 25,000 – 35,000
GBP 56,700 / USD 74,910

Andy Warhol 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

ANDY WARHOL
Untitled (Avanti), 1962
Graphite on paper
17 7/8 x 24 inches (45.7 x 61 cm)
Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., New York
Numbered ‘VF 125.001’ on the reverse

#11. Untitled (Dollar Sign), 1981

Christie’s New-York: 29 September 2022
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 73,080

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Untitled (Dollar Sign) | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Untitled (Dollar Sign), 1981
Acrylic and graphite on paper
31 5/8 x 23 5/8 inches (80.3 x 60 cm)
Stamped with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. stamps
Numbered ‘TOP 2.4.046’ (on the reverse)

#12. Mother holding child

Dorotheum Vienna: 30 November 2022
Estimated: EUR 30,000 – 40,000
EUR 62,718 / USD 64,725

Andy Warhol – Contemporary Art I 2022/11/30 – Realized price: EUR 62.718 – Dorotheum

ANDY WARHOL (Pittsburgh 1928–1987 New York)
Mother holding child
Graphite on paper
39.8 x 30.3 inches (101×77 cm)
With the stamps of the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York Numbered with archive number TOP46.009 on the reverse

 

 

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2021 Auction Results

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WORK IN PROGRESS

#1. Cagney, 1964

Christie’s New-York: 13 May 2021
Estimated: USD 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
USD 3,750,000

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Cagney | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Cagney, 1964
Silkscreen ink on paper
30×40 inches (76 x 101.5 cm)
Signed and dated ‘Andy Warhol 64’ (on the reverse)

#2. Anna Magnani, circa 1955

Phillips New-York: 24 June 2021
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 201,600

Andy Warhol 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

#3. Blue Airmail Stamps, 1962

Sotheby’s New-York: 13 May 2021
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 189,000

Blue Airmail Stamps | Contemporary Art Day Auction | 2021 | Sotheby’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Blue Airmail Stamps, 1962
Acrylic on paper
10×8 inches (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
Signed and dated 1962 on the reverse

#4. Untitled (Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts), 1977

Christie’s New-York: 12 November  2021
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 175,000

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Untitled (Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts) | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Untitled (Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts), 1977
Photo transfer on acetate and paper collage on paper
22 7/8 x 20 inches (58.1 x 50.8 cm)
Signed ‘Andy Warhol +’ (lower right)
Numbered ‘A166.122 C100.115’ (on the reverse)
Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board, Inc.
Numbered with the identification number A166.122

This collage was created as an image for the album design for the Rolling Stones record, “Love You Live”, which was released in 1977 and is represented on the inside jacket cover of the album.

 

 

 

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Early Silkscreens

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Astronauts, 1963

Sotheby’s New-York: 1 March 2024
Estimated: USD 600,000 – 800,000
USD 635,000

Astronauts | Contemporary Curated | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Astronauts, 1963
Screenprint on Strathmore paper, in 6 parts
45 x 85 3/8 inches (114.3 x 216.9 cm)
Each sheet stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Each sheet numbered (clockwise from the upper left sheet) 117.004, 117.001, 117.005, 117.006, 117.002 and 117.003, respectively (on the verso)

Reflecting the awe and fear of venturing into the unknown, Andy Warhol’s Astronauts comes from what is arguably the most important year in his entire output, and at its astounding scale marks it as a major and exceptional vestige of the artist’s early career. Its execution is contemporaneous with the epoch-defining ‘Death and Disaster’ series of Suicides, Car Crashes, Electric Chairs, Tunafish Disasters, Race Riots, as well as the Silver Elvis and Silver Liz canons, all of which were similarly made in 1963. Astronauts combines a comic book science fiction fantasy that evokes Warhol’s early career in popular advertising with the dawn of the actual Space Age, which so dramatically captured the public imagination at the beginning of the 1960s.

Fueled by the geopolitical superpower rivalry of the Cold War, six weeks after the Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space, President John F. Kennedy had declared on May 25, 1961, that the United States would land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade. American dedication to space exploration was consequently manifest through the NASA Apollo era, and their earliest missions paralleled an explosive fascination with the ‘Final Frontier’ through the ever-expanding media of television, film, and comics. It is from this rich iconographic seam that Warhol mined the source image for the present work, thereafter reappraising this semi-fantastical popular imagination through the repetition of his revolutionary silkscreen.

LEFT: ANDY WARHOL, SUICIDE, 1962/64. SOLD AT SOTHEBY’S NEW YORK IN NOVEMBER 2012 FOR $16.3 MILLION. PRIVATE COLLECTION. ART © 2024 ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION / ARS, NY / TM LICENSED BY CAMPBELL’S SOUP CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

RIGHT: VIJA CELMINS, NIGHT SKY #12, CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART, PITTSBURGH. ART © 2024 VIJA CELMINS

Warhol had initiated the enterprise that has become synonymous with his legendary output, silk-screening, in 1962. The technique immediately appealed to the artist, affording spectacular effects of tonal contrast and a grainy dispersion of ink that connotes high-volume mass-media printing reproduction techniques.

“With silk-screening, you pick up a photograph, blow it up, transfer it in glue onto silk, and then roll ink across so that the ink goes through the silk but not through the glue. That way you get the same image, slightly different each time. It was all so simple – quick and chancy. I was thrilled with it.”

Indeed, most importantly was the ready capacity of the silkscreen mechanism to reproduce multiple images, and the six repetitions of the two spacemen in Astronauts immediately defines it as an archetypal Warhol. Whereas in the artist’s paintings, colors vary and their placement on the ground shifts, here, the essence of individuality in the silkscreen process is at its most elemental.

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG, RETROACTIVE I, 1963. WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM OF ART, HARTFORD.
ART © 2024 ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG FOUNDATION

Astronauts presents with an exceptional, even lamina of silkscreen ink cast across the composition: its seamless dispersal evident through the equivalence of each repeated image, down to minute details of the specks in faraway stars. Methodological skill and technical mastery here result in the immediate and extremely vivid exposition of this galactic scene. As ever with Warhol’s oeuvre, import is inclined not only by subject, but also by method, process, and context. The thrilling, fantastical subject matter here is revealed through the patterned gradations of the printing process, and the inherent nature of this rendering is purposefully ambiguous. Astronauts stands as a vast demonstration of Warhol’s earliest groundbreaking approach, a striking work of unparalleled historical significance.

Cagney, 1964

Christie’s New-York: 13 May 2021
Estimated: USD 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
USD 3,750,000

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Cagney | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Cagney, 1964
Silkscreen ink on paper
30×40 inches (76 x 101.5 cm)
Signed and dated ‘Andy Warhol 64’ (on the reverse)

Cagney is a visually groundbreaking silkscreen work on paper that marks an important transition in Andy Warhol’s painting practice. Executed near the height of Warhol’s creative output, it is one of eight unique silkscreen variants and one of the first known examples of Warhol’s use of silkscreen on paper. Dated 1964, though possibly executed in 1963, the Cagney series signals a transition away from the portrait heads of 1962-1963 and into a deeper realm of full-figured celebrity subjects that incorporate an alluring duality of pop culture and violence.

Warhol himself told Rainer Crone and later Heiner Bastian that the source image for Cagney was derived from a publicity still for the 1931 film Public Enemy, in which actor Jimmy Cagney portrayed Al Capone. In fact, more recent scholarship has determined that Warhol’s source was a publicity image for Cagney’s 1938 film Angels with Dirty Faces, in which the actor plays tough man Rocky Sullivan. Whether it’s Al Capone or Rocky, the effect is the same. We see Cagney, the star and epitome of cool, with his back against the wall and his guns drawn. The menacing shadow of another gunman pointing a machine gun at Cagney looms on the wall. The tough man is cornered, but he won’t go out without a fight.

Cagney is one of the first paintings by Warhol to depict a male celebrity in full-figured character. Along with the silver Brando and Elvis paintings, which were executed contemporaneously with Cagney, this marks an important shift away from one-dimensional celebrity portraits, such as Marilyn and Troy, and towards the duality of character that inhabits Warhol’s best paintings. Cagney, like Brando and Elvis, is a potentially dangerous paramour. He is dressed suavely in a double-breasted suit and silk polka-dot tie, but he’s a violent man. There is a friction between violence and sex appeal here. The line is blurred between the ‘fact’ of the celebrity and the ‘fiction’ of their character. Once Warhol hit this note, he continued to play it for much of his career. Only a few months after the Cagney series, he took it even further by reducing the celebrity and focusing on the outright depiction of criminals themselves in his 1964 Most Wanted Men series. The celebrity aspect was altered, but the criminality and sex appeal remained.
Each of the eight unique Cagney works on paper were executed on 30 x 40 inch Strathmore sheets, and the embossed Strathmore emblem is visible in the lower left of this version. Warhol likely used the same silkscreen as used for his sole Cagney painting, a massive 204 x 79 inch (520 x 201 cm) work on canvas from 1963. In order to fit the large silkscreen image onto the smaller Strathmore sheets, Warhol focused his image on Cagney and left out much of the second gunman’s shadow. The cropping was effective, and Warhol was evidently pleased with the result. He almost immediately exhibited two of the Cagney works on paper at the Wadsworth Athenum in Hartford as part of Sam Wagstaff’s important January-February 1964 exhibition, Black, White and Grey: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture. Since then works from the Cagney series have been widely exhibited and collected by museums. This work was shown at four different museums throughout the 1970s and 80s, and was included in the important Warhol retrospective at the Kunsthaus Zürich in 1978. Other unique Cagney works reside in the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; and the Collection Froehlich, Stuttgart.

Like Warhol’s unique silkscreen paintings on canvas, the Cagney works on paper bear unique imperfections relating to the silkscreen process. This version of Cagney is perhaps the cleanest and least-marred silkscreen impression in existence. It bears none of the large white streaks that disrupt the image in other versions, such as the example owned by MoMA, New York, and the tonality of the ink is remarkably rich. Cagney’s shadow in particular is in stark contrast with his figure and the wall behind him, and the effect is particularly vivid.

Confusion as to the cataloguing of these works has persisted over the years, partly because of notations in Rainer Crone’s important 1970 Warhol catalogue. As the 2002 Warhol catalogue raisonné explains, “Crone never recorded the [Cagney and Bela Lugosi] paintings and cited most of the works on paper as prints, although each is unique. Crone’s information appears to have come from a misreading of the Castelli Gallery inventory.” [G. Frei and N. Printz, eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculpture 1961-1963, vol. 1, New York, 2002, p. 349.] Recent scholarship, including the Warhol catalogue raisonné project and Jacqueline Brody’s paper on the Cagney series, have helped dispel this notion. As Brody wrote, “When Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann followed Crone with their expanded catalogue of the prints in 1985, Warhol told them that he considered any silkscreens on paper he printed himself, such as Cagney, to be ‘unique drawings’, and not prints.” J. Brody, “Andy Warhol’s Cagney Prints,” Print Quarterly, vol. 26, no 2, June 2009, pp. 142-153. This underscores the historical importance and special nature of the series, and in particular this work: while the series is itself rare, a work of this caliber and visual strength within the series is even rarer.

 

 

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Art History

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St. George and the Dragon (After Paolo Uccello), 1984

The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: an Era Defined
Sotheby’s New-York: 9 November 2023
Estimated: USD 450,000 – 650,000
USD 444,500

St. George and the Dragon (After Paolo Uccello) | The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: An Era Defined | Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
St. George and the Dragon (After Paolo Uccello), 1984
Silkscreen ink on paper
60×83 inches (152.4 x 210.8 cm)
Stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and numbered A891.116 on the verso

In 1984, Andy Warhol turned his focus away from his ubiquitous silkscreens of everyday, commercial objects and portraits of Hollywood’s elite to focus his attention on the history of art itself through his series Details of Renaissance Paintings. In doing so, not only did Warhol pay homage to the Renaissance masters, but he also placed himself as inheritor and predecessor of their revered lineage by incorporating excerpts of their acclaimed works and thus dramatically expanding the scope of his oeuvre. In St. George and the Dragon (After Paolo Uccello), Warhol appropriates Paolo Uccello’s circa 1470 painting Saint George and the Dragon using vibrant colors in a unique screenprint which acts as a crucial preparatory investigation anticipating the later works in his Details of Renaissance Paintings series. By cropping and distorting the original scale and color palette of Uccello’s original painting, Warhol shockingly transforms the iconic Renaissance painting from the canon of Art History into a remarkable Pop spin-off. Just as Warhol’s earlier silkscreen works from the 1960s radically exalted the commodification of American consumer brands and products, the composition of St. George and the Dragon (After Paolo Uccello) similarly examines and subverts the ways in which we consume artistic masterpieces.

PAUL UCCELLO, SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON, C. 1470. THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON.

The story of Saint George and the Dragon belongs to a popular collection of saint’s lives written by Jacopo de Vorgine in the 13th century, titled The Golden Legend. The original masterpiece by Uccello features two episodes from the story of Saint George: his defeat of the plague-bearing dragon that had been terrorizing the city, and the rescued princess bringing the dragon to heel using the belt from her dress as a leash. Warhol crops Uccello’s mythical scene down to the princess’s simple yet stoic profile and the dragon’s all-encompassing spotted wing at a drastically enlarged scale, essentially elevating a fraction of this art historical masterpiece into a Pop art model. The subtle and darker palette of Uccello’s original painting is replaced by a cacophony of striking fluorescent colors and asymmetrical linework which delightfully guide the eye and disguise the origins of the source image.

Birth of Venus (After Botticelli), 1984

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 May 2023
Estimated: USD 350,000 – 450,000
USD 2,601,000

Birth of Venus (After Botticelli) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Birth of Venus (After Botticelli), 1984
Silkscreen ink on paper
58 7/8 x 82 inches (152.1 x 208.3 cm)
Executed circa 1984, this work is unique

In 1984, Andy Warhol turned his focus away from his ubiquitous silkscreens of brand name objects and society portraits and instead looked for inspiration to the History of Art itself. During this period he embarked on the Details of Renaissance Paintings series, depicting cropped images of universally recognized Old Master paintings from the 15th century. The present work depicts the unmistakable figure of Venus plucked from Sandro Botticelli’s ethereal and monumental masterpiece, The Birth of Venus from 1486. Both radical and breathtaking in its enveloping scale and graphic immediacy, Warhol effectively pays homage to this monumental painting and its radiating romanticism. Recreating the masterpiece with intricate draftsmanship and dynamic strokes punctuated by vibrant yellows, reds and oranges, Warhol crops the original painting down to just the head of Venus using his characteristic medium of silkscreen.

ANDY WARHOL’S STUDIO IN NEW YORK CITY WITH ONE OF HIS LAST SUPPER PAINTINGS IN THE BACKGROUND, 1987. PHOTO BY EVELYN HOFER/GETTY IMAGES.

Within this work, and the Details of Renaissance Paintings series at large, as well as in his works inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (c. 1503-1519) and Last Supper (1498), Warhol confronted these ubiquitous images of Art History by intentionally stripping them of their artistic qualities and intent, instead highlighting their innate value as a pop cultural symbols. There is certainly an odd irony in appropriating Botticelli’s – or any Old Master’s – laborious, detailed and painstaking painting process into a silkscreen, a mechanical process for mass production that essentially removes the hand of the artist. Subsequently, Warhol presents this work as an easily reproducible commodity, subverting not only Botticelli’s intention, but the very principles of the art historical tradition. Just as Warhol’s silkscreened works from the 1960s radically exalted, and simultaneously mocked, the commodification of American consumer brands and products, his works from Details of Renaissance Paintings point to the similar way in which we consume artistic masterpieces.

 

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Gold Leaf

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Golden Nude, 1957

Christie’s London: 13 October 2023
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 308,700 / USD 374,655

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987), Golden Nude | Christie’s (christies.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Golden Nude, 1957
Ink and gold leaf on paper
20×16 inches (51 x 40.6 cm)
Signed ‘Andy Warhol’ (lower left)

Offered from the prestigious collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann, Golden Nude (1957) is a rare and elegant early work by Andy Warhol. Drawn in black ink on glittering gold leaf, it depicts a rear, waist-down view of a male nude, with hands crossed behind his back. Warhol’s distinctive curlicued signature—in fact written by his mother, Julia, as was common in his drawings of the time—appears prominently to the lower left. The work exhibits the deft, lyrical line with which Warhol made his name as a commercial illustrator in the 1950s, while also exploring more avant-garde projects. With its homoerotic theme and echoes of gleaming religious icons, it foreshadows the glamour and idol-worship of his emergent Pop practice, as well as later, more explicit nude series such as the Sex Parts and Torsos of the late 1970s. Golden Nude was included in Warhol’s landmark posthumous retrospective which opened at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1989.

Butterfly, 1956

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 320,000 – 480,000
HKD 1,234,800 / USD 157,645

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987), Butterfly | Christie’s

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Butterfly, 1956
Ink, gold leaf and gold applications on paper
15 x 22 7/8 inches (38.1 x 58.1 cm)
Stamped with the Andy Warhol Estate stamps
Numbered ‘A0.3739 284.015 88.368 D1313’ (on the reverse)

Executed in 1956, Butterfly is an iconic work that was conceived at the inception of Warhol’s extensive and acclaimed artistic career. He started as a commercial illustrator in 1949, working for clients including the famed Tiffany & Co., Vogue, Glamour, and The New York Times. The current work exhibits his signature blotted-line ink drawing—a process he developed while studying pictorial design at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) which combines drawing with basic printmaking. The process allowed Warhol to create multiple illustrations with similar themes in a timely manner. It was a craft he continued to refine into the 1950s when he began his commercial career after moving to New York from Pittsburgh, enabling him to present numerous ideas to clients at once to increase the likelihood of his illustrations to be chosen and featured as the final advertisement. After creating the blotted outline, Warhol often filled them in with watercolor dyes or applied gold leaf. His experimentation—and fascination—with gold leaf, was likely inspired by the gilded images of icons and saints in the Byzantine Catholic church he attended with his family as a child in Pittsburgh. Butterfly is therefore a fusion of Warhol’s earlier exploration of the blotted line technique and his speculative inspiration from the characteristic gold of Byzantinesque art.

The current work further embodies Warhol’s fondness for butterflies, as he once described them as ‘jewels of the sky’ that will ‘provide you with endless pleasure if given enough attention’. Warhol was profoundly fond of animals, creating many works depicting them, and the butterfly was one of his recurring motifs. Yet, the current work is the only butterfly work executed with gold leaf from the artist’s early oeuvre to appear on the market, implying its rarity. Resting against a banal piece of greyish-colored paper, the golden butterfly shimmers in its stationary position. With its wings fully spread, the butterfly radiates glowing vitality. Star-like shapes dot the tips of the butterfly’s antenna and line its body, making it all dreamier and magical. The simplicity of the outline created by his blotted line technique is reminiscent of vector drawings in children’s coloring books, the mass of golden color filling and infusing it with noble elegance. The use of gold leaf creates gentle ruffles on the paper surface, creating soft creases. A minimalist illustration capturing the key characteristics of a butterfly, the current work is an attestation to Warhol’s curiosity in seeking differing artistic techniques and deep interest in butterflies.

 

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Shoes

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Molly, circa 1956

Property from a Prominent New York Collection
Phillips New-York: 28 February 2026
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 412,800

Andy Warhol Modern & Contemporary Art

Andy Warhol’s Molly, circa 1956, masterfully transforms the mundane object of a woman’s shoe into something fantastic. Set against a metallic silver background, the composition’s subject – a heeled woman’s boot – is rendered in dazzling gold leaf, with collage-like elements placed atop it to emphasize the shoe’s details.

His signature blotted-line technique creates the outline and shading of the shoe, a style he first experimented with while a student at Carnegie Institute of Technology and featured heavily throughout his early ink drawings. At once embodying and cataloguing the glamourized, consumerist American way of life, Molly celebrates the central role that shoes play in Warhol’s career and foreshadows their influence throughout his body of work.

Warhol’s fascination with shoes began early in his career. Between 1955 and 1957, the artist was the sole illustrator for shoe manufacturer I. Miller, drawing shoes for advertisements in the New York Times. During this time, he also achieved great success as as a commercial illustrator for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, eventually being referred to as the “Leonardo of the shoe trade.” This motif would become one of the most central and consistent in his career, replicating them in sculpture and including them as the primary subject in his series of diamond dust paintings from the 1980s. With its shimmering gold surface and playful ornamentation, Molly captures both fantasy and commodity at the heart of fashion, standing as a bridge between Warhol’s commercial illustration roots and his later Pop Art innovations.

Enna Jetticks, circa 1955

Sotheby’s New-York: 28 September 2023
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 254,000

Enna Jetticks | Contemporary Curated | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Enna Jetticks, circa 1955
Screenprint on paper
34 1/4 x 49 1/4 inches (87 x 125.1 cm)
Titled (center right)

Prior to his career as one of the 20th century’s most important and successful artists, Andy Warhol spent a decade as a commercial illustrator in New York. While his practice spanned many fields such as album cover design for record labels such as Columbia Records or illustrations for magazines including Harper’s Bazaar and Glamour, one of the most pivotal opportunities of his commercial career was illustrating for the I. Miller shoe company in the mid-1950s. Warhol’s bold and colorful illustrations with his signature blotted line was an immediate success, boosting his career to prosperity and motivating him to start blurring the lines between commercial and fine art, as can be seen in his gold leaf-adorned shoe sketches that he made with people he admired in mind, as seen in Golden Shoe (Julie Andrews Shoe).

ANDY WARHOL, GOLDEN SHOE (JULIE ANDREWS SHOE), 1956 / IMAGE © 2023 PRIVATE COLLECTION
ART © 2023 THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK

In Enna Jetticks, themes that would become central in Warhol’s body of work and distinct Pop Art style begin to emerge. The luxurious gold background (a color that Warhol would heavily employ in his later works) is a key implementation of Warhol’s lifelong fascination with the commercialization of culture and the fetishization of objects and icons. Notably, Warhol’s upbringing was one within a Byzantine Catholic family, and as a child the artist would regularly attend mass in an ornate Pittsburgh church known for it’s extensive display of icons, which would inform the development of his artistic practice throughout his life. As such, Enna Jetticks offers a glimpse of Warhol’s early career in advertising and illustrates the beginnings of Warhol’s dedication to blurring the boundaries between that of commercial art and fine art, as well as high culture and popular culture.

Anna Magnani, circa 1955

Phillips New-York: 24 June 2021
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 201,600

Andy Warhol 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

During the mid-1950s, Andy Warhol’s fascination with fashion, glamour, and commercial reproduction inspired a sequence of lavish shoe portraits, each named after a stylish celebrity. The Italian actress Anna Magnani was one of many voguish icons to whom Warhol dedicated a heel, and as was typical for Warhol, his representation to her was formed only by the glitzy persona he saw on television, as the two did not have a personal connection or friendship.

“I see art in everything. Your shoes. That car. This coffee cup.”

In 1956 Warhol exhibited a small handful of these works at The Bodley Gallery in the now legendary Golden Slipper Show, a moment which marked his transition from commercial illustrator—drawing shoes for advertising or promotion—to a fine artist. In the present work, Warhol adorns Anna Magnani with gold and silver leaf, underscoring the irresistibility and glamorous lifestyle of the high-profile star. Anna Magnani and his other sparkling shoes propelled Warhol into the public eye, as the early works resonated immediately with contemporaneous audiences on account of the familiar names they were constantly exposed to during the celebrity boom of the 1950s.

Shoes would remain a central topic for Warhol, and he notably revisited the subject in the 1980s, the last decade of his life, with the celebrated Diamond Dust Shoe series. Though the subtle and glittering colors Warhol applies to Anna Magnani are a far cry from his later vibrant silkscreens, Anna Magnani serves as one of the rare early demonstrations of Warhol’s ambition, acting as a prelude to the prominent themes he would continue to explore for the duration of his career.