Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED NEW YORK COLLECTION
Andy Warhol (1928-1987)

The New Spirit (Donald Duck)

Details
Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
The New Spirit (Donald Duck)
signed and dated 'Andy Warhol 85' (on the overlap)
synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas
22 x 22 in. (55.8 x 55.8 cm.)
Painted in 1985.
Provenance
Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
Anon. sale; Christie's, New York, 12 May 2010, lot 302
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Brought to you by

Jonathan Laib
Jonathan Laib

Lot Essay

"Donald is encouraged by a radio bulletin to pay his income tax prompty to support the war effort. Using wartime propaganda and Disney humor, the public is encouraged to pay their income tax with a minimum of grumbling. Instead of mailing his money in, Donald is shown eagerly running across country from California to Washington, D.C. to deliver his tax payment in person. The animation then shifts to less humorous, more warlike images. A Japanese battleship with the Rising Sun painted on its side explodes, and this Rising Sun slowly sinks beneath the ocean to the strains of Beethoven's Fifth. A Nazi submarine is also blown up, and the film cuts to a closeup of the Nazi flag being flushed away in a vortex of dark, swirling water. Allied aircraft and tanks are shown destroying a huge Nazi war machine monster. The final shot of the short reveals a watercolor wash sky of multicolored clouds that form the U.S. flag" (Jerry Edwards, The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts, www.disneyshorts.org).

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