Lot Essay
With his portraits of Liz Taylor, Jacqueline Kennedy and Elvis Presley, Andy Warhol became the most well known chronicler of fame and celebrity for much of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. With his iconic screen-prints he captured the growing commercialization of the mass media. It is unsurprising that, in the 1980s, Warhol produced a series of work based on one of the decade's biggest cultural phenomenons, the Cabbage Patch Kid.
Created in 1977, Xavier Roberts started making the individual, hand-made dolls at his home in Georgia. Calling them "little people" each doll was different and anyone wishing to "adopt" one had to raise their right hand and pledge to love the newest member of their family for ever. Speaking during a television interview over two decades later Roberts described the artistic roots of his dolls. "It really started off as a piece of art. I would travel to art shows and I actually won some prizes at different art shows, competing with sculpture and other things" (X. Roberts, CNN Saturday Morning News, July 27, 2002).
Roberts' company sold over a quarter of a million dolls before signing a deal with a licensing company that raised the profile of these toys around the world. By Christmas 1983 the toys were at the top of the best seller lists and every child in the country wanted one. Toy shops ran short of supplies and parents were forced to queue for hours to get their hands on what limited supply of dolls there were. Newspapers were full of reports of 'Cabbage Patch Riots' as thousands of people waited outside stores to get their hands on the toys. In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania a woman had her leg broken when a crowd of 1,000 people turned violent after waiting eight hours to get into a department store that had just received a new consignment of the dolls.
In 1984 Cabbage Patch Dolls reached the heights of their success, with the dolls and their associated accessories generating over $2 billion worth of sales and a 'Cabbage Patch Kid' record topping the charts, going gold and then platinum. Much time has been spent trying to analyze the reason behind the success of this phenomenon. Dr. Joyce Brothers, a psychologist and syndicated columnist said at the time "It is comforting to feel the Cabbage Patch doll can be loved with all your might--even though it isn't pretty"
(J. Brothers quoted by O. Friedrich and R. Carney, Time, December 23, 1983).
With Cabbage Patch Doll Warhol identified America's new obsession and presented us with a premeditated homage to nostalgia, he was aware that he was paying witness to yet another of America's passing fads. This portrait is more than the image of a doll but the reminder of how quickly the average American can become intoxicated with the next big thing; how dollars can be made through advertising, product placement and design and how easy it is to manipulate a population that acquires social status through desire and ownership. Like Warhol's Campbell Soupcan's of the 60's, his Cabbage Patch Doll is a mirror of our time, a portrait of America circa 1985.
Created in 1977, Xavier Roberts started making the individual, hand-made dolls at his home in Georgia. Calling them "little people" each doll was different and anyone wishing to "adopt" one had to raise their right hand and pledge to love the newest member of their family for ever. Speaking during a television interview over two decades later Roberts described the artistic roots of his dolls. "It really started off as a piece of art. I would travel to art shows and I actually won some prizes at different art shows, competing with sculpture and other things" (X. Roberts, CNN Saturday Morning News, July 27, 2002).
Roberts' company sold over a quarter of a million dolls before signing a deal with a licensing company that raised the profile of these toys around the world. By Christmas 1983 the toys were at the top of the best seller lists and every child in the country wanted one. Toy shops ran short of supplies and parents were forced to queue for hours to get their hands on what limited supply of dolls there were. Newspapers were full of reports of 'Cabbage Patch Riots' as thousands of people waited outside stores to get their hands on the toys. In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania a woman had her leg broken when a crowd of 1,000 people turned violent after waiting eight hours to get into a department store that had just received a new consignment of the dolls.
In 1984 Cabbage Patch Dolls reached the heights of their success, with the dolls and their associated accessories generating over $2 billion worth of sales and a 'Cabbage Patch Kid' record topping the charts, going gold and then platinum. Much time has been spent trying to analyze the reason behind the success of this phenomenon. Dr. Joyce Brothers, a psychologist and syndicated columnist said at the time "It is comforting to feel the Cabbage Patch doll can be loved with all your might--even though it isn't pretty"
(J. Brothers quoted by O. Friedrich and R. Carney, Time, December 23, 1983).
With Cabbage Patch Doll Warhol identified America's new obsession and presented us with a premeditated homage to nostalgia, he was aware that he was paying witness to yet another of America's passing fads. This portrait is more than the image of a doll but the reminder of how quickly the average American can become intoxicated with the next big thing; how dollars can be made through advertising, product placement and design and how easy it is to manipulate a population that acquires social status through desire and ownership. Like Warhol's Campbell Soupcan's of the 60's, his Cabbage Patch Doll is a mirror of our time, a portrait of America circa 1985.