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Lot Essay
In a 1977 diary entry, Andy Warhol recalled a studio visit by Richard Weisman: "He was in a nervous mood, and when he saw that I was doing a new style of painting, he got upset, he didn't like that I did the Chrissie Evert in lots of little pictures instead of big ones" (A. Warhol quoted in N. Printz and S. King-Nero, eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonne: Paintings 1976-1978, vol. 5A, New York, 2018, p. 405). But when Weisman saw a group of the 10-inch paintings, assembled in a sixteen-part grid that collectively measured 40 by 40 inches, his concerns dissipated. The effect of the repetition, presented in Warhol’s standard portrait size, captured the essence of the seriality of Pop Art.
Warhol ultimately produced two of these sets of sixteen paintings, one of which includes the present lot. Each set was initially assembled into a complete work—photographs from Warhol’s studio feature Evert, as well as Michael and Barbara Heizer, posing in front of one of these sets as illustrative proof—and while both sets were later disassembled, “they can be reconstructed as Warhol originally assembled them” (Ibid, p. 405). The present lot, presented as the complete set as Warhol originally intended it to be, is a rare and desirable opportunity.
Warhol ultimately produced two of these sets of sixteen paintings, one of which includes the present lot. Each set was initially assembled into a complete work—photographs from Warhol’s studio feature Evert, as well as Michael and Barbara Heizer, posing in front of one of these sets as illustrative proof—and while both sets were later disassembled, “they can be reconstructed as Warhol originally assembled them” (Ibid, p. 405). The present lot, presented as the complete set as Warhol originally intended it to be, is a rare and desirable opportunity.