Andy Warhol: Royal Icons
Warhol was one of the most transformative and influential artists of the 20th century. New York magazine famously dubbed Warhol “The Zeitgeist incarnate”. Beyond his ventures in film, fashion and publishing he emerged as a defining visual artist of his generation.
Warhol blurred the lines between mass-media, pop culture and ‘fine’ art and had embraced silkscreen printing which was once used primarily for commercial design and had elevated it to his own legendary medium of image making.
”I want to be like a machine” – Warhol had once remarked. At his studio/creative hub called ‘The Factory’ he rapidly produced his vivid portraits of commercial objects, news imagery and famous people. In 1985, two years before his passing, Warhol met Dutch gallerist George Mulder who initiated a collaboration on a series of ‘Reigning Queens’ silkscreen prints which would apply his style to a special category of famous people: Royals.
For the series Warhol depicted all four reigning queens of that time: Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. His portraits approach its subjects with a calm neutrality, in this case using state portraits of the four Reigning Queens of that time. This neutrality and the artificiality of his silkscreen style turn the depicted people into larger than life icons: into abstracted symbols of power, wealth and fame.
Despite his ‘machine-like’ approach, Warhol’s works are highly dynamic, the layering of areas of colors has intentional imperfections and peculiar overlapping squares give the works a clear sense of the artist’s touch. After having made a series of Trial Proofs, which were all uniquely different in their coloration, he made four color designs per Queen. In the ‘Royal edition’ he would add his signature diamond dust on the contour line to emphasize their luxuriousness.
Andy Warhol: Royal Icons displays 11 ‘Reigning Queens’ works, including two complete sets. The exhibition also includes portraits of other famous figures such as Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.
Additionally, the show presents an array of works that are testimony to Warhol’s deep understanding of commercialization, mass-media and public imagery, including pieces featuring fellow Post-War art giant Joseph Beuys, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and women’s shoes, a nod to Warhol’s early career as a commercial marketing designer.
Andy Warhol was in every sense unique: his style. his enigmatic personality, his appetite for controversy, his love for fame and money, and most of all his revolutionary art, which made him a true ‘royal icon’ of art history.