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拍品專文
Of all the 'reversal' paintings that Warhol made between 1979 and 1986 it is the Marilyns that provide the most haunting imagery and which have the most lasting resonance. This famous image of the Hollywood star whose glamour, celebrity and suicide had so captivated Warhol in the early 1960s, has become a powerful icon of the Pop movement of the 1960s and an instantly recogniseable logo of Warhol's art. By reusing the Marilyn image in a new and startling way Warhol not only brought his career full circle but also demonstrated the richness and versatility of his aesthetic at a time when many thought artistic relevance to be finished.
By borrowing from his own catalogue of imagery and using it as the source material of his new paintings Warhol reinvented his old motifs and gave them a new context and mood in another time and space. In doing this he showed himself to be one of the pioneers among a new generation of artists whose conscious disregard towards the supposed continuous and progressive tradition of modern art led to them become known as post-modernists. Part pastiche of his earlier work and part reinvention, Warhol's 'appropriation' of his own imagery in his 'reversal' series and 'retrospective' paintings echoed the then current post-modernist thinking that aimed to undermine and nullify traditional canons of art history and its hierarchical divisions between so-called 'high' and 'low' art.
Warhol's recycling of his most famous images reveals a sense of ironic detachment to his own work that, like Duchamp and his portable museum, refuses to accept the hierarchical status that history has given to his works, preferring to see them as valid only in the context of his own production. In his 'reversal' paintings Warhol was re-exploring the potential of his earlier works to become something new and different from the 'icons of Pop' that art history has turned them into. By silkscreening the negative image of the original photograph and illuminating its shadows, the resultant image seemingly presents the alter-egos of his celebrated icons. From his Mona Lisa to Mao or even his wallpaper cow, the most successful of Warhol's reversals is the image of Marilyn Monroe which in negative form becomes a truly haunting and nostalgic representation of this icon of the magical but shallow artifice of Hollywood.
Against a pitch black background Marilyn's face radiates with what David Bourdon has described as an 'otherwordly glow, as if illuminated by infernal footlights.' (D. Bourdon, Andy Warhol, New York 1989, p. 378.). In this chic black and grey version, the haunting spectre of the screen goddess takes on a sculptural quality, the reversal porcess bestowing on Marilyn the monumental and almost timeless quality of a classical sculpture. Repeated against the black background as if in a filmstrip, Four Marilyns is a stylish monument to Monroe, Hollywood and the illusion of the Silver Screen deliberately intertwined with the mystique of Warhol's own legend.
By borrowing from his own catalogue of imagery and using it as the source material of his new paintings Warhol reinvented his old motifs and gave them a new context and mood in another time and space. In doing this he showed himself to be one of the pioneers among a new generation of artists whose conscious disregard towards the supposed continuous and progressive tradition of modern art led to them become known as post-modernists. Part pastiche of his earlier work and part reinvention, Warhol's 'appropriation' of his own imagery in his 'reversal' series and 'retrospective' paintings echoed the then current post-modernist thinking that aimed to undermine and nullify traditional canons of art history and its hierarchical divisions between so-called 'high' and 'low' art.
Warhol's recycling of his most famous images reveals a sense of ironic detachment to his own work that, like Duchamp and his portable museum, refuses to accept the hierarchical status that history has given to his works, preferring to see them as valid only in the context of his own production. In his 'reversal' paintings Warhol was re-exploring the potential of his earlier works to become something new and different from the 'icons of Pop' that art history has turned them into. By silkscreening the negative image of the original photograph and illuminating its shadows, the resultant image seemingly presents the alter-egos of his celebrated icons. From his Mona Lisa to Mao or even his wallpaper cow, the most successful of Warhol's reversals is the image of Marilyn Monroe which in negative form becomes a truly haunting and nostalgic representation of this icon of the magical but shallow artifice of Hollywood.
Against a pitch black background Marilyn's face radiates with what David Bourdon has described as an 'otherwordly glow, as if illuminated by infernal footlights.' (D. Bourdon, Andy Warhol, New York 1989, p. 378.). In this chic black and grey version, the haunting spectre of the screen goddess takes on a sculptural quality, the reversal porcess bestowing on Marilyn the monumental and almost timeless quality of a classical sculpture. Repeated against the black background as if in a filmstrip, Four Marilyns is a stylish monument to Monroe, Hollywood and the illusion of the Silver Screen deliberately intertwined with the mystique of Warhol's own legend.