Apple
from Ads

Medium: Screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Year: 1985
Sheet: 38×38 inches (96.5 x 96.5 cm)
Edition: 190
Artist’s Proofs: 30 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 5 PP
Exhibitor’s Proofs: 5 EP
Hors Commerce: 10 HC
Other: 10 numbered in Roman numerals
Bon a Tirer: 1 BAT
Trial Proofs: 30 TP, each print is unique
(see Feldman & Schellmann IIB.359)
Printer: Rupert Jasen Smith, New-York
Publisher: Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc., New York
Literature: Feldman & Schellmann II.359

Each signed and numbered in pencil
With the printer’s blindstamp
With the artist’s and the publisher’s  copyright ink stamps on the reverse

 

Apple is part of Ads
(Click on picture below to access the Catalogue Entry)

In 1976, Apple, now a global corporation, was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne, and through its technology but also its design, by the 1980s the personal computer became a mass-produced object. The apple as trademark was, and still is today, one of the most well-known and distinctive trademarks worldwide. Apple’s claim that it would make the computer accessible to the masses and establish the company as a brand, corresponds to Warhol’s idea of bringing the icons of consumer society into art – which is definitely the case with Apple. It is therefore no surprise that “Apple” also found its way into his oeuvre. Apple chose as its first logo a hand-drawn sketch of Isaac Newton sitting under a tree, unaware of the epiphany-inducing fruit dangling mere feet above his head. This dichromatic picture was heavy on detail, yet it lacked the simplicity necessary for an image to become widely replicable and iconic. At Jobs’ direction, Apple replaced the logo the same year, opting instead for a design by graphic artist Rob Janoff: an upright apple with a chunk bitten out by its hungry owner. Though presented to him in black-and-white, Jobs chose a populist route, encouraging Janoff to colorize the logo for greater public appeal. Thus, the rainbow apple was born, and it persisted as Apple’s extraordinary public image until 1998, when Apple’s new revolution of design simplicity brought forth the monochrome design that graces Apple’s products to this day.

Using a photograph he took of Debbie Harry for digital manipulation, Andy Warhol demonstrates the new Amiga Computer at Lincoln Center.

Apple features the multicolored, striped Apple Macintosh logo, rendered against a pastel pink backdrop. Printed on Lenox Museum Board, the logo is framed by the brand’s name, Apple Macintosh, drawing explicit attention to the association between this logo and global consumerism. The vivid colors in this print reflect Warhol’s celebration of American consumer culture and his transformation of the everyday into art, which led to a blurring of the boundaries between high and low culture. Indeed, this print is emblematic of how Warhol turned mass media imagery into art. The bold color in this print, achieved by multiple screens and a layering of paint, is accompanied by gestural lines, delineating the Apple logo.

As Apple was refining its visual brand, Andy Warhol was expanding his; Warhol’s work in the late 1970s drew upon new subject matter and methods of production, including his oxidation paintings, his first work with camouflage, and the nightmarish integration of weaponry, guns, and knives into his work. Yet as the 1970s turned into the 1980s, he maintained his affinity for the subject matter of modern iconography.

 

 

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Auction Market Overview

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ANDY WARHOL
Apple from ADS  (FELDMAN & SCHELLMANN II 359), 1985
Screenprint
Signed and ed.190 at lower right image, with a copyright stamp on verso

Mainichi Tokyo: 31 July 2021
Estimated: JPY 8,000,000 – 13,000,000
JPY 16,500,000 (Hammer)
JPY 21,450,000 / USD 195,550

ANDY WARHOL
Apple from ADS  (FELDMAN & SCHELLMANN II 359), 1985
Screenprint
Signed and ed.190 at lower right image, with a copyright stamp on verso

ANDY WARHOL
Apple, from: Ads. 1985
Unique screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Signed in pencil, inscribed and numbered TP 18/30
One of 30 trial proofs each printed in a unique combination of colors

Apple (TP 11/30), 1985

Phillips London: 9 June 2016
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 75,000 / USD 109,335
TRIAL PROOF

Apple (TP 1/30), 1985

Christie’s New-York: 11 November 2015
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 173,000
TRIAL PROOF

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Apple (from Ads), 1985
Unique screenprint on Lenox Museum Board
Signed and numbered ‘TP 1/30 Andy Warhol’ (lower right)

Apple (TP 28/30), 1985

Dallas Auction Gallery: 20 May 2015
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 162,500
TRIAL PROOF

ANDY WARHOL (American, 1928-1987)
“Apple” from “Ads” (Feldman/Schellman, IIB.359), 1985
Color screenprint on Lenox Museum Board
Numbered and signed in pencil lower right
“TP 28/30 Andy Warhol”
Aside from an edition of 190