Lot 3865 - A193 Prints & Multiples - Saturday, 04. July 2020, 11.00 AM
ANDY WARHOL
(Pittsburgh 1928–1987 New York)
Dracula. 1981.
Colour screenprint with diamond dust. TP 2/30, trial proof outside the edition of 200. Unique. Signed in pencil lower centre: Andy Warhol. Sheet size 96.5 × 96.5 cm on Lenox Museum Board. Published by Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York (verso with the stamp). Printed by Rupert Jason Smith, New York.
From the 10-part series "Myths".
From the 10-part series "Myths".
Provenance: 1999 purchased by the present owner from Barrington Galleries New York, since then private collection Switzerland.
Catalogue raisonné: Feldman/Schellmann, no. IIB.264.
From his earliest youth, films were a source of great fascination for Andy Warhol, so that in his comprehensive oeuvre he turned to film again and again. In 1973/74 he produced the horror film “Andy Warhol’s Dracula” in collaboration with Paul Morrissey (screenplay and direction) after the classic text by Bram Stoker, although not much of the original is in evidence. As with the joint production of “Frankenstein”, this was a low budget production with violence, sex, and idiosyncratic humour, which was not suited to a wide cinema audience.
The leading actor, Udo Kier as Count Dracula, was immortalised by Andy Warhol in a series of paintings and prints. The present unique trial proof, when compared with the edition prints and the other trial proofs, is notable for its intense colour. The red background and highlights add intensity to the image. While in the edition prints the figure almost merges with the dark background, in this work Dracula has an extraordinary presence.
Warhol included Dracula in his “Myths” series of 1981, and placed him alongside figures such as Superman, Mickey Mouse, Mata Hari, Uncle Sam and Santa Claus, a mix of historical, literary, and comic strip characters typical of Warhol, representing everything from hero to antihero to villain.
Catalogue raisonné: Feldman/Schellmann, no. IIB.264.
From his earliest youth, films were a source of great fascination for Andy Warhol, so that in his comprehensive oeuvre he turned to film again and again. In 1973/74 he produced the horror film “Andy Warhol’s Dracula” in collaboration with Paul Morrissey (screenplay and direction) after the classic text by Bram Stoker, although not much of the original is in evidence. As with the joint production of “Frankenstein”, this was a low budget production with violence, sex, and idiosyncratic humour, which was not suited to a wide cinema audience.
The leading actor, Udo Kier as Count Dracula, was immortalised by Andy Warhol in a series of paintings and prints. The present unique trial proof, when compared with the edition prints and the other trial proofs, is notable for its intense colour. The red background and highlights add intensity to the image. While in the edition prints the figure almost merges with the dark background, in this work Dracula has an extraordinary presence.
Warhol included Dracula in his “Myths” series of 1981, and placed him alongside figures such as Superman, Mickey Mouse, Mata Hari, Uncle Sam and Santa Claus, a mix of historical, literary, and comic strip characters typical of Warhol, representing everything from hero to antihero to villain.
CHF 40 000 / 60 000 | (€ 41 240 / 61 860)
Sold for CHF 116 200 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.