Andy Warhol

Jack and Noreen Rounick Collection, USA (acquired from the artist)
Sotheby's, New York, 19 May 1999, Lot 294
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Condition: Please note that the image in the printed catalogue should be rotated 180 degrees. The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the overall tonality is brighter in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection a very thin, unobtrusive and stable tension crack running intermittently along the extreme outer edges and a few light handling marks. Further close inspection reveals some wear to the extreme corner tips. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

“If Matisse was Warhol’s favourite artist, as he occasionally claimed, then the Dollar Sign pictures may have been Warhol’s odalisques. The Dollar Sign paintings abound in radiant effects that recall Matisse’s pre-eminence as a colourist, and it is easy to see Warhol’s drawings as sensual responses to a shapely symbol for prizes and possessions” (Trevor Fairbrother in: Exh. Cat., New York, Andy Warhol Dollar Signs, 2004, p. 22). The dollar sign by Andy Warhol is without doubt one of the most universally recognisable symbols of 20^th century Pop art. First exhibited at the Castelli gallery in 1982, they provoked a critical debate for the repeated display of a singular subject, similar to the reactions that were received at his first exhibition of Flower Paintings in 1964. However, the dollar sign is indispensable in its cultural standing; it is the ultimate icon of capitalism and a socially charged signifier for the American dream. The dollar above all other currencies has the ability to conjure up feelings of joy, longing and jealousy, on top of inciting lucid daydreams of wealth, opportunity and power. Due to their imposing scale and symbolic repetition, Warhol had elevated the dollar sign to a religiously charged symbol of worship for a culture that had come to define and embrace financial powers as its very raison d'être. Art and money became inseparable and a room filled with Warhol’s dollar paintings instantly turned into a brightly coloured modern temple of consumerism. The first time American currency appeared in Warhol’s fine art practice was in the early 1960s, in the hand painted One Dollar Bill (silver certificate). It then reappeared in silkscreened works of one and two dollar bills that were serially printed on canvas. After a brief retirement from painting in the late 1960s, Warhol enjoyed tremendous artistic and financial success and began to further abstract this subject by singling out the dollar sign. Although Warhol’s paintings affirmed his status as a wry commentator on American consumer culture, the dollar sign also signified the glittering and glamorous lifestyle that the artist had entered by 1980. Having grown up as the Catholic son of Slovakian immigrants in Pittsburgh, Warhol’s childhood was marked both by material deprivation and religious influence. Even though he had soon escaped financial insecurities after establishing himself as a successful illustrator in Manhattan around 1950, the artist never escaped the fascination and obsession with money and, as such, the dollar remained an integral leitmotif throughout his career. Masterful in its execution, the present work shows Warhol’s mature refinement of the silk-screening technique. A distinctly fauvist choice of colours; rich orange and red, light yellow and a bright turquoise, are combined with a bold chromatic segregation. By adding layer after layer of paint in a new vibrant hue only broken up by frenzied but secure hatching, Warhol plays with the illusion of a flat canvas and adds a lively dynamic to the image. By the time he had begun working on his dollar signs, the very act of buying one of Warhol’s works bestowed status and societal appreciation on a collector. The newly acquired trophy on one’s wall acted at the same time as the ultimate sign for financial success and power. Both intrigued and amused Warhol commented on this phenomenon “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. Then when someone visited you, the first thing they would see is the money on the wall'' (Andy Warhol quoted in The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: from A to Z and Back Again, New York, 1975, p. 229).