Andy Warhol

Irving Galleries, Palm Beach
Acquired by the present owner from the above

This work is in good condition overall. Please refer to the following condition report prepared by Terrence Mahon.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

From the moment her husband was elected President of the United States in November 1960, Jackie Kennedy became an inspirational heroine to millions in the optimistic climate of a newly rejuvenated post-war America. Epitomizing youth, beauty and style, she became the ideal of a wife, mother and First Lady. In Jackie, 1964, Warhol presents this shining light - her face beaming replete with her stunning smile. Her husband's face hovers just beyond her shoulder, his memory lingering perpetually in his wife's shadow. Sourced from a photo taken at the Dallas airport on the morning of the fateful November 22, 1963, Jackie immortalizes the final moment before a sniper's bullet devastated the emotional landscape of a nation. "Then, for the first time, there were many who experienced the banality of illustrious death, time being measured by the flash: a gasping instant," (Remo Guidieri, "JFK", in Exh. Cat., Houston, The Menil Collection, Andy Warhol: Death and Disasters, 1988-89, p. 29).

Rainer Crone, described Jackie Kennedy as "the woman whose feelings were reproduced in all the media to such an extent that no better historical document on the exhibitionism of American emotional values is conceivable" (Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol, New York 1970, p. 29). Captivated by the notions of celebrity and death, Warhol desensitized the overwhelming feelings of national loss through replication and multiplication, underscoring the manipulative potentiality of mass media. As in much of his most revered work, celebrity, tragedy and the specter of death permeate this painting, emphasizing the emotional conditioning inherent to mass media. Warhol was disturbed by the media's potential to manipulate and yet simultaneously celebrate the power of the icon. Fame and its agents intoxicated him, and he understood celebrity as integral to modern life. As Remo Guidieri explains, "we need this artificiality; we probably resort to it, as Warhol perceived, out of fear of the emptiness that it both conceals and conveys" (Op Cit, p. 34).

One of just a handful of single canvases of Jackie Kennedy in gold, here, the widow's portrait is screened upon a richly painted, shimmering ground, a reminder of the glittering, celebrated public life of his subject. The extraordinary metallic and reflective qualities of gold held particular importance for Warhol, and outstanding highlights of the Jackie series, including The Week That Was I and Jackie Frieze, hinge upon the predominance of the gilded color. And yet, Warhol's use of gold was exceptionally rare: outside the Jackie works, two round Marilyns of 1962, two Ethel Sculls of 1963 and the iconic Gold Marilyn Monroe of 1962 in the Museum of Modern Art are exceptional instances of gold canvases in Warhol's entire 1960s output. Jackie comes to symbolize the currency of celebrity, an icon deserving of reverential adoration and the consummate deity of Pop Art.