Andy Warhol

Galerie Denise René Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf
Daimler-Benz AG, Stuttgart (acquired from the above in 1986)
Gift to the present owner from the above in 1988

Kunsthalle Tübingen, Andy Warhol: Cars: Die Letzten Bilder, January - March 1988, cat. no. 44, n.p., illustrated in color
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Tokyo, Shinjuku Isetan Museum; Kyoto, Daimaru Museum; Gunma, Hara Museum ARC; Sapporo, Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art; Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art; Kanagawa Prefectural Cultural Center, Andy Warhol: Cars, September 1988 - November 1989, cat. no. 27, p. 88, illustrated in color
Kunstmuseum Bern, Andy Warhol: Cars, February - May 1990
Madrid, Fundación Juan March; Barcelona, Museo Palau de la Virreina, Andy Warhol: Cars, September 1990 - April 1991
Tokyo, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection from Renoir to Warhol, July - October 2004

Renate Wiehager, ed., Andy Warhol: Cars: Business Art, New York, 2002, p. 65, illustrated in color

This work is in very good condition overall. The surface is bright and fresh. There is very light evidence of wear and handling to the edges. There are some variations to the tonality of the black screen at the upper right quadrant where there are some silver spots, which appears to be a result of the screening process. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. Framed under 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.
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.

A masterwork from the Guggenheim Museum’s collection, Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Grand Prix Car (Streamlined Version), executed in 1986, is a prime example of Andy Warhol’s Car Series, the last group of work created before his untimely death in 1987. Produced as part of a commission given to Andy Warhol and other contemporary artists by Mercedes Benz to celebrate their centennial in 1986, it exemplifies the artistic heights achieved by Warhol in his final years. The last decade of Warhol’s life produced some of the most innovative and influential works of his career. And as a member of an unfinished series, Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Grand Prix Car (Streamlined Version)is a masterpiece that provokes thought about Warhol’s life as an artist, what might have been, and the important transitions that defined him and a nation. 

Throughout his career, Warhol experimented endlessly with different techniques to construct an image, combining painting, print-making, drawing, sculpture and film. He moved freely between imagining objects with multiple layers of mark-making to simplified representations. The line work that defines this car is strikingly simple. Devoid of driver or race track the iconic object of desire floats in space unfettered from gravity itself. Liberated from the superfluous, the automobile exclusively acts as a symbol of post-war prosperity, industrial change, and the American fascination with dazzling objects. The Car Series intertwines Warhol’s Pop sensibilities with subtle religiosity and a fascination with the spectacular, providing us with a provokingly intimate yet simplified sense into his interests, instincts and choices at the end of his life. The process he adopts in Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Grand Prix Car (Streamlined Version) is refined and simple, yet complete, and reminds us of just how good he was at being Andy Warhol.

Itself a star of automobile history, the Mercedes Benz W-196 was the instrument driven by Argentinian Juan Manuel Fango to deliver five Formula One World Championships. While not a car aficionado, Warhol was a committed admirer of ostentatious objects, none more so than the automobile. Andy’s reinterpretation of the Mercedes Benz W-19 transforms the car into an object of modern idolatry, representing the American affection, even love, for mass production. There are no shadows or any sense of context or narrative. He has masterfully simplified the object, just as he had transformed the Campbell’s Soup Cans, Coke Cola bottles, and Brillo Boxes. Unconcerned with the technology that makes such a vehicle function, the viewer is seduced and excited by the strikingly curvaceous form floating in darkness, a sensuous apparition. His images are indirect advertisements for those objects and the corporations that produce them, seducing all.

However, by so completely appropriating common objects that they are absorbed into the art that epitomizes Andy Warhol, he wrests from the image all it has to offer and adds it to his own unmatched legacy. We are reminded of Mercedes Benz with each interaction; yet, it is so familiar that the car in all its sleekness acts as an advert for Andy Warhol. An Icon of automobile history, the Mercedes Benz W-196, is a perfect object to define Andy Warhol. Daring, innovative, unparalleled.