| | Coskun Fine Art of 93 Walton Street, London, SW3 confirms its position as one of London 's leading private modern art galleries with the exhibition, between March 15 th and April 5 th 2005, of ‘Andy Warhol' Important Paintings, Portfolios and Unique Screenprints'– a group of portraits and other iconic works by the great pop artist. Featured are the beautiful and powerful of the 1960's, 1970s and 80s celebrity and high society, including images of Jackie O, Dolly Parton, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Judy Garland, Liza Minelli. The exhibition also includes key political figures such as Mao, Lenin, Shah of Iran amongst Warhol's works with diamond dust such as Shoes and Shadows.
Andy Warhol is known for the re-presentation of historical, frequently macabre events, movie stars, or ostensibly insignificant symbols of Americana that so defined his 60's work to his resurrecting and electrifying of the portrait genre so brilliantly chronicled in Robert Rosenblum's essay ‘Andy Warhol: Court Painter to the 70s' (first published in 1979 in the catalogue for the exhibiion ‘Andy Warhol: Portraits of the 70s' at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York).
In seminal 1960's pieces, such as Gold Marilyn, where a photographic silkscreen of the star's face is floating on a gold ground worthy of a Byzantine Madonna, and his images of a grieving Jackie Kennedy, Warhol used the news photograph and publicity shots, our most common-place source of visual information about our famous contemporaries, to turn icons of flesh into icons on canvas. No longer an external memory prop for the painter's handmade recreation of reality, in Warhol's oeuvre, through the use of the silkscreen, the photograph becomes the base for the image on canvas, an innovation in technique that complemented subject-matter traditionally found in newspapers and magazines.
In the works on display, we see the transition of Warhol from recorder of mass- produced products, ‘Death and Disaster' images and movie stars to a full-blown documenter of those who matched Warhol's own upward career trajectory – where the symbolic resonance of earlier works such as Gold Marilyn is applied to living subjects, making the figures featured in the exhibition at Coskun Fine Art both the embodiment and reflection of the spirit of their era.
Andy Warhol succeeded almost single-handedly in resurrecting grand-style portraiture of people important, glamorous, notorious or rich enough – whether statesman, actresses, or wealthy patrons of the arts – to warrant leaving their human traces in the history of painting. His representation of these subjects evinces a ring of commonplace truth that we recognise from the newspapers and glossy magazines that disseminated their fame; and it is this facet of Warhol's, his remarkable ability to elevate seemingly ordinary images, that has, for the 21 st Century viewer, achieved a level of recognition that is even greater than those he depicted. And viewing Andy Warhol's own self-portrait at Coskun Fine Art perhaps reminds us that Warhol's masterstroke was to propel himself to heights that some of his subjects only aspired to.
Collecting Warhol
It is overall global appeal to people of all ages and cultures that makes Andy Warhol's works of art so collectable. Warhol prices have been rising steadily over the past ten years in an industry where continuous demand for iconic works outstrips supply. Warhol worked with an eclectic mix of images providing works of art to inspire us all. Historical events are forever captured in works such as the 'Moonwalker' celebrating America 's first moonlanding in 1969 and the famous Jackie O portraits taken at Kennedy's funeral. Marilyn Monroe is immortalised for the American collector, likewise mount Vesuvius for lovers of Italy . Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Dracula, and oversized Campbell 's soup cans are show stoppers for the kids and shimmering diamond dust Shoes and Rothkoesque Shadows are the perfect addition to any home.
His sporting legends include Muhammed Ali and the Mick Jagger porftolio co-signed by Jagger appeals not only to the Warhol collector but to anyone interested in rock and roll memorabila. In the famous portfolio 'Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century' Warhol pays his respects to great Jewish thinkers, entertainers, authors, and composers. His unpublished projects are even more interesting for those who want to own a unique piece of history and these include Self-Portrait, Liza Minelli, the Shah of Iran, to name a few . Many of his portraits were shown for the first time in the UK in an exhibition we jointly held with the prestigious Andy Warhol Foundation.
As Europe 's leading speciallist on Andy Warhol, Coskun FIne Art has a large inventory of works by Warhol and offers help and advice to all whether you are a first-time buyer or a collector. If we don't have the Warhol that you wish to acquire, we can find you one within the market price. We also provide a complete service to those wishing to buy at auction, by advising on price, providing condition reports, and bidding on behalf of clients. We can also sell works on behalf of clients as well as advising on framing, hanging, conservation and restoration.
Please contact the gallery for prices.
|
