Attempted Bloggery: Andy Warhol's Double Elvis

Monday, October 15, 2012

Andy Warhol's Double Elvis

I got to see Andy Warhol's Double Elvis in the weeks before its auction at Sotheby's New York. The canvas is monumental, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of the large areas of flat color given the enormous scale. I found myself surprisingly grateful for the second fainter impression of Elvis over to the left, which I think helps the composition greatly.

Andy Warhol, Double Elvis [Ferus Type], 1963

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/contemporary-art-evening-n08853/lot.27.html

Fig. 1Bob Dylan holding the present work at the Factory, East 47th Street, New York, 1965
Photo: Nat Finkelstein
© 2012 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Fig. 2

Andy Warhol, Silver Liz (Ferus Type), 1963

Collection of The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh

Fig. 3

Double Marlon, 1966

Private Collection

Fig. 4

Silver Liz as Cleopatra, 1963

Art Gallery of Ontario, Gift of Mrs. Else Landauer, in memory of her husband, Walter Landauer, 1979

Fig. 5

Red Elvis, 1962

Private Collection

Fig. 6

Andy Warhol, Round Marilyn (Head of Marilyn Monroe), 1962

Private Collection

Fig. 8Exhibition poster (An Exhibition by Andy Warhol at the Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, September 30, 1963) Collection of the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
© 2012 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York