Gee Merrie Shoes
Medium: Offset lithograph with hand-coloring in watercolor on wove paper
Date: circa 1956
Sheet: 9 1/4 x 8 inches (23.5 x 20.3 cm)
Edition: Unknown
Literature: Not in Feldman & Schellmann
Shoes were a mainstay throughout Warhol’s art career; in 1949, on his second day introducing himself to publishers in New York, Warhol received his first assignment as a commercial illustrator- to illustrate shoes for New York’s Glamour Magazine. In the 1950s, Warhol was also responsible for revamping I. Miller’s advertising campaign, specifically through his blotted line drawings of shoes. He was so successful in this area that he eventually became known in the industry as “the shoe person.”
Warhol created a now famous portfolio of shoe drawings in 1955 titled “A la Recherche du Shoe Perdu”, featuring drawings of singular shoes and an accompanying line of text. Gee Merrie Shoes was created around this same time, and features the same blotted line technique—a technique which Warhol developed as a college student. It has been suggested that the script underlining the image was written by Warhol’s mother – it is certainly in her style.
Before Marilyn and Moonwalk, there was Andy the illustrator. Warhol’s career began as a commercial illustrator on New York’s Madison Avenue in 1949, during the massive post-war economic boom. His arrival additionally coincided with an extensive change in the motivations and strategies behind advertising, utilizing applied psychology to influence American consumers to purchase products. This stint as an ad man would further his Pop interest in cultural commercialization and start his artistic career; thus began the first chapter of Warhol’s oeuvre, dominated by charming and light-handed ink drawings.
As a master of line and contour, Warhol’s consistent and unique drawings and designs piqued the interest of his clients, earning him commissions and collaborations with some of the biggest brands of the day: Tiffany & Co., Columbia Records, and Vogue, to name a few. Though stylistically different from the Pop art that would rocket him to international stardom, these early drawings offer a glimpse at an artist well on his way to establishing an art movement that would change the way the world conceived of contemporary art and its connection to pop culture, morphing from his early successes in the commercial art scene.
The simple yet sophisticated line drawings contain a child-like whimsy – though that’s not to say Warhol didn’t take his work seriously. As reflected in his early drawings, he took to heart a piece of advice from one of his art teachers who told the young artist to paint for himself, not what others wanted to see. This wisdom would validate Warhol’s desire to draw his favorite things: cherubs, shoes, cats, and often young men. Across these drawings and hand-colored prints, we see Warhol as a compulsive creator, documenting life and fantasy with the stark clarity of ink on paper.
Auction Results
Sotheby’s London: 24 September 2025
Estimated: GBP 2,500 – 3,500
GBP 5,334 / USD 7,175
ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Gee Merrie Shoes (not in F. & S.), 1956
Offset lithograph with hand-coloring in watercolor on laid paper
With the ink stamp of the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board verso (faded)
Inscribed with the reference number ‘A127.083‘ in pencil
From the edition of unknown size
Sotheby’s London: 24 September 2025
Estimated: GBP 2,500 – 3,500
GBP 5,334 / USD 7,175
ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Gee Merrie Shoes (not in F. & S.), 1956
Offset lithograph with hand-coloring in watercolor on laid paper
With the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board inkstamps verso
Initialed ‘T.J.H.’ and annotated with the reference number ‘PM16.0016′ in pencil
From the edition of unknown size
Christie’s New-York: 18 November 2021
Estimated: USD 7,000 – 10,000
USD 7,500
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Gee Merrie Shoes, circa 1956
Offset lithograph with hand-coloring on wove paper
From the edition of unknown size
With the ‘Estate of Andy Warhol’ and the ‘Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board’ ink stamps
Annotated ‘PM16.0041’ in pencil on the reverse
Christie’s New-York: 17 November 2016
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 27,500
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Gee, Merrie Shoes, 1956
Offset lithograph with hand-coloring on paper
9 3/8 x 8 inches (23.8 x 20.3 cm)