Oct 04, 2012 - Sale 2288

Sale 2288 - Lot 160

Price Realized: $ 9,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 10,000
WARHOL, ANDY (1928-1987)
Edward M. Kennedy. Unique Polaroid Polacolor Type 108 print, 3 5/8x2 7/8 inches (9.2x7.3 cm.), with the Warhol Estate's embossed blind stamp on margin recto and the Estate hand stamp and notations, in pencil, on verso. 1979
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Additional Details

Andy Warhol Polaroids, 1971-1986.

Pop Artist Andy Warhol was an avid photographer who sought to transform the camera into an extension of his body. His choice of a Polaroid camera facilitated quick and easy picture-making as well as instant gratification; its unique feature was instant delivery of a finished print. From 1970 to 1987, Warhol preferred the Polaroid Big Shot, acquiring several at a time and traveling with as many as possible. Introduced in 1971, the bulky Big Shot had a fixed-focus lens and was intended for indoor portrait flash photography.

Warhol was a prolific photographer who used his images as studies for commissioned portraits, silkscreens, paintings, drawings, and prints. This portrait was the basis for Warhol's 1980 silkscreen of Kennedy, which raised funds for his Democratic Presidential Campaign (Andy Warhol Prints, 111, 177). The final print has a patriotic motif. With its subtle use of red and blue lines, it plays off the colors of the American flag and suggests Kennedy's glamour by enhancing his features with diamond dust. Although Kennedy lost the 1980 Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter, he became known as 'The Lion of the Senate,' defining himself as a strong and progressive voice of his party.

The proceeds of this sale will be donated to the Early Use Fund.