Andy Warhol

Myron Orlofsky, New York
Acquired directly from the above

This work is in very good condition with no visible discoloration or deterioration to the drawing sheet. There are scattered graphite finger marks, likely to be the artist, and some faint handling marks from subsequent mounting and framing, located primarily in the corners. Along the lower left edge, there is a light brown splatter, 1/2 in. in diameter, located 1 1/2 in. up from the lower left corner. Along the upper left edge, there are two linear traces of a darkened resin, roughly 1 in. to 1/4 in., located 1 1/2 and 3 inches down from upper right corner. A few minute tears and crushed edges to the upper edge have been repaired using wheat starch paste with Japanese paper fibers added to the verso for support. Previous hinges prevented these areas from consistently aging in tone with the rest of the paper and they have been minimally toned in with colored pencil. This sheet is mounted with japanese rice paper hinges to 100% cotton ragboard and is framed in a silver faced wood strip frame behind Plexiglas.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Warhol revolutionized American art in the early 1960s, and 1962 was the most pivotal year in his entire oeuvre. Throughout that year, Warhol created a wide range of new stylistic aesthetics and art processes, culminating in his ground-breaking use of the silkscreen technique. Yet with works such as Untitled (Roll of Dollar Bills), also from 1962, Warhol proclaimed his continuing love of drawing. 

Untitled (Roll of Dollar Bills) is a spectacular example of one of Warhol's earliest and most iconic drawings, similar to another work in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Throughout his life, Warhol expressed himself freely in drawing, and even after he became known for his silkscreen technique of mechanically producing paintings, Warhol would sneak into his 'Factory' studio to draw on Sunday or late at night when it was relatively empty.  Warhol's innate talent for drawing is abundantly apparent in the present work, as well as his genius for infusing mundane subject matter with subtly deep meaning. As a subject, dollar bills would launch the artist into his famed silkscreen works later that same year. Fittingly, Warhol's dollar paintings and drawings are about desire, and it amused him that his art possessed powers similar to money, stimulating desire and imagination simultaneously. 

As one of his early `Pop' works, Untitled (Roll of Dollar Bills) is a larger-than-life roll of money that directly confronts the viewer as it consumes the picture plane. Throughout his career, the dollar bill provided Warhol with a potent reference point for his examination of contemporary American consumer culture, acting as a recurring leitmotif with which to chart the changing times. As he explained, ``Americans are not so interested in selling. What they really like to do is buy''. (Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: from A to Z and Back Again, New York, 1975, p. 229). In this context, Warhol's dollar paintings and drawings are as much about desire as his iconic celebrity portraits.  Within a society immersed in the pursuit of wealth, Warhol's art would become a commodity acquisition that conferred status on its collector. As Warhol commented, "I like money on the wall. Say you were going to buy a $200,000 painting. I think you should take that money, tie it up, and hang it on the wall." (Ibid., pp. 133-134).

In the present work, Warhol's ``still-life'' centered on a rather common roll of money, presenting a brand of 'Pop' culture reality that dared to challenge the grand history of `High art' still life painting as practiced by generations from Dutch masters and Caravaggio to 20<sup>th</sup> century masters such as Henri Matisse. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp, the champion of found objects in Modern art, Warhol's new `Pop' approach was parallel to the use of consumer objects in the works of contemporaries such as Jasper Johns, whose Light Bulb drawing from 1958 Warhol had acquired from Leo Castelli just one year before he completed Untitled (Roll of Dollar Bills). While each artist was striving toward different conceptual ends, their means had the same starting point in objects from everyday life.