Tattooed Woman Holding a Rose

Medium: Offset lithograph in orange on Plover Onion Skin paper
Date: circa 1955
Sheet: 28 3/4 x 11 inches (73×28 cm)
Edition: Unknown
Literature: Not in Feldman & Schellmann

This work is from the early part of Warhol’s career, and was used as a calling card for his services as it has his telephone number and address ‘Murray Hill’ across the woman’s waist. It is not known how many of these prints were produced, but they are becoming increasingly rare.

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

Forum Auctions: 31 March 2026
Estimated: GBP 7,000 – 9,000
GBP 7,500 (Hammer)
GBP 9,900 / USD 13,100

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Tattooed Woman Holding a Rose (Not in Feldman & Schellmann), circa 1955
Offset lithograph printed in orange on tissue thin green wove paper
With The Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts inkstamps

Bonhams New-York: 22 May 2025
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 10,240

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Tattooed Woman Holding a Rose, circa 1955
Offset lithograph in orange on Plover Onion Skin paper
From an edition of unknown size
Initialed in pencil ‘TJH’ by Timothy J. Hunt of the Andy Warhol Foundation
Annotated ‘PM 15.0294’ on the reverse
With the ‘The Estate of Andy Warhol’ and ‘Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.’ inkstamps
on the reverse

Sotheby’s London: 16 March 2025
Estimated: GBP 5,000 – 7,000
GBP 9,525 / USD 12,330

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Tattooed Woman Holding Rose, circa 1955
Offset lithograph printed in orange on green watermarked onion skin paper
Inscribed PM15.0337 in pencil verso

Phillips New-York: 24 October 2024
Estimated: USD 3,000 – 5,000
USD 12,065

Roseberys London: 5 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 15,000 – 20,000
GBP 22,100 / USD 27,775

ANDY WARHOL (American 1928-1987)
Tattooed Woman Holding a Rose, circa 1955
Offset lithograph printed in orange on green watermarked onion skin paper
With the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the visual arts ink stamps
Annotated ‘PM15.OH26 15H,’

Rago: 24 February 2022
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 23,750

ANDY WARHOL (1928–1987)
Tattooed Woman Holding Rose, 1955
Offset lithograph in colors
Stamped to lower left ‘The Estate of Andy Warhol’

Sotheby’s London: 15 September 2021
Estimated: GBP 8,000 – 12,000
GBP 30,240 / USD 41,815

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Tattooed Woman Holding A Rose (Not in F. & S.), circa 1955
Offset lithograph printed in orange on green watermarked onion skin paper
With The Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts inkstamps
Annotated ‘PM15.0429’ and ‘T.J.H’ in pencil