.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
‘She was the personification of ’60s glamour and grace —the Jackie O. of Houston … I will always have a vision of round tables down the loggia, laden with beautiful porcelain, silver, candles and bright blossoms. Though always professing to be shy, she toasted honored guests with panache in her best Lauren Bacall voice’ – F. Marzio
Executed in 1976, this striking silkscreen by Andy Warhol depicts Caroline Wiess Law. A major art collector and philanthropist, Law left one of the largest bequests to an American museum in history upon her death in 2003. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, was given 54 works of international importance and the majority of her $450 million estate. Although she was a private figure, Law’s larger-than-life personality earned her comparisons to Jackie Kennedy – another famed subject of Warhol’s. As Catherine D. Anspon writes, ‘Her art matched her taste in clothes and jewels: bold, brave, impeccable and important’ (C. D. Anspon, ‘Eye on the Past: Who Was Caroline Wiess Law?’ PaperCity Magazine, 6 March 2015). A great admirer of Warhol, Law commissioned portraits by him in the mid-1970s that included Polaroid photographs as well as screenprints. The present work, screened in black ink upon a burnt orange acrylic ground, demonstrates Warhol’s consummate command of colour at this stage in his career, as well as the impeccable taste of his subject. Her friend Frances Marzio recalls that ‘Caroline’s attention to color and coordination prevailed at Lawridge, her ranch in Navasota. All the fences were white, the trucks red, the cows black. Herd deviants were quickly dispatched to market’ (F. Marzio, quoted in C. D. Anspon, ‘Eye on the Past: Who Was Caroline Wiess Law?’ PaperCity Magazine, 6 March 2015). Caroline Law captures the glamour of the Pop era that both Warhol and Law shared in, and forms an apt tribute to a woman who is warmly remembered for her hospitality, generosity, and forward-thinking artistic vision.
Executed in 1976, this striking silkscreen by Andy Warhol depicts Caroline Wiess Law. A major art collector and philanthropist, Law left one of the largest bequests to an American museum in history upon her death in 2003. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, was given 54 works of international importance and the majority of her $450 million estate. Although she was a private figure, Law’s larger-than-life personality earned her comparisons to Jackie Kennedy – another famed subject of Warhol’s. As Catherine D. Anspon writes, ‘Her art matched her taste in clothes and jewels: bold, brave, impeccable and important’ (C. D. Anspon, ‘Eye on the Past: Who Was Caroline Wiess Law?’ PaperCity Magazine, 6 March 2015). A great admirer of Warhol, Law commissioned portraits by him in the mid-1970s that included Polaroid photographs as well as screenprints. The present work, screened in black ink upon a burnt orange acrylic ground, demonstrates Warhol’s consummate command of colour at this stage in his career, as well as the impeccable taste of his subject. Her friend Frances Marzio recalls that ‘Caroline’s attention to color and coordination prevailed at Lawridge, her ranch in Navasota. All the fences were white, the trucks red, the cows black. Herd deviants were quickly dispatched to market’ (F. Marzio, quoted in C. D. Anspon, ‘Eye on the Past: Who Was Caroline Wiess Law?’ PaperCity Magazine, 6 March 2015). Caroline Law captures the glamour of the Pop era that both Warhol and Law shared in, and forms an apt tribute to a woman who is warmly remembered for her hospitality, generosity, and forward-thinking artistic vision.