Iconic Warhol comes to auction...
03/06/2020 News and Film, Modern and Contemporary Art, Andy Warhol
Update: On May 14, Andy Warhol's Chanel realized $175,000 in the Modern & Contemporary Art auction, the second highest price achieved for this iconic print.
Chanel is one of ten images from Andy Warhol's Ads series, each of which were appropriated from ubiquitous ads or logos of the 1950s-1980s. Other images in this series include advertisements for Van Heusen (featuring Ronald Reagan), Lifesavers candy, Volkswagen Beetle and logos for Apple computers and Paramount. At the beginning of his artistic career, when 'serious' artists used paint and were expected to avoid mention of money, Warhol embraced screenprinting, the slick medium of mass production and the intoxicating allure of commerce and consumption as his subject.
Andy Warhol, Chanel from Ads, 1985, Color screenprint, $120,000-$180,000 © 2020 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Courtesy Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
Here, the brand name and bottle are highlighted in day-glo pink and yellow, and the background is a dramatic black, showcasing brand over the perfume itself, which the artist has cheekily left out of this composition altogether.