Andy Warhol

Brillo:
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York (LC#180)
David Whitney, Connecticut
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Campbell's:
The Paul Warhola Family (acquired directly from the artist)
Christie's, New York, May 4, 1988, lot 174
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Del Monte:
Stable Gallery, New York
Private Collection, East Coast
Christie's, New York, May 13, 1998, lot 354
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Heinz:
Marisol Escobar, New York (gift from the artist, Christmas 1964)
Sotheby's, New York, November 15, 2000, lot 283
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Kellogg's:
Estate of Alan R. Solomon, New York
Sotheby's, New York, October 5, 1989, lot 171
Acquired by the present owner from the above

New York, Stable Gallery, Andy Warhol, April - May  1964 (Brillo, Campbell's, Del Monte, Heinz, and Kellogg's exhibited, other examples)
Tokyo, Mitsukoshi, Ltd., Andy Warhol, January 1991(Campbell's and Kellogg's exhibited)
Kyongju, Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art; Seoul, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Warhol & Basquiat, September - November 1991, cat. no. 5 (Campbell's) and cat. no. 6 (Kellogg's), p 24, illustrated in color
Tel Aviv, Museum of Art, Andy Warhol, August - October 1992, (Campbell's and Kellogg's exhibited)
Vienna, Kunsthaus Wien; Athens, National Gallery; Orlando, Museum of Art; Ft. Lauderdale, Museum of Art; Taipei, Fine Arts Museum, Andy Warhol 1928 - 1987, February 1993 - November 1994, cat. no. 13 (Brillo), p. 34, illustrated in color; cat. no. 15 (Kellogg's), p. 34, illustrated in color and cat. no. 38 (Campbell's), p.48, illustrated in color
Lausanne, Foundation de l'Hermitage; Milan, Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta, Andy Warhol, May 1995 - February 1996 (Campbell's and Kellogg's exhibited)
Ludswigshafen, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Andy Warhol, September 1996 - January 1997, cat. no. 67 (Campbell's), p. 108, illustrated in color; cat. no. 68 (Kellogg's), p. 109, illustrated in color; cat. no. 69 (Brillo), p. 110, illustrated in color and p. 47, illustrated (installation view, Stable Gallery, 1964)
Helsinki, Kunsthalle, Andy Warhol, August 1997 (Brillo, Campbell's and Kellogg's exhibited)
Warsaw, National Museum; Cracow, National Museum, Andy Warhol, March - June 1998, cat. no. 85, p. 86, illustrated in color (Brillo), cat. no. 86, p. 88, illustrated in color (Campbell's); cat. no. 64, p. 90, illustrated in color (Kellogg's)
Rio de Janeiro, Cultural Banco do Brasil, Warhol, October - December 1999 (Campbell's, Del Monte, Kellogg's exhibited)
Kochi, Museum of Art; Tokyo, Bunkamura Museum of Art; Umeda-Osaka, Daimaru Museum; Hiroshima, City Museum of Contemporary Art; Tokyo, Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art; Nagoya, City Art Museum; Niigata, City Art Museum, The Andy Warhol Exhibition, February 2000 - February 2001 (Campbell's, Del Monte, Kellogg's exhibited)

Brillo:
Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol, New York, 1970, cat. no. 634, p. 283, illustrated (another example)
Georg Frei and Neil Printz, eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculptures, Volume 2A: 1964 - 1969, New York, 2004, cat. no. 632, p. 70, illustrated in color (another example)

Campbell's:
Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol, New York, 1970, cat. no. 640, p. 282, illustrated (another example)
Georg Frei and Neil Printz, eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculptures, Volume 2A: 1964 - 1969, New York, 2004, cat. no. 851, p. 92, illustrated in color (another example) 

Del Monte:
Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol, New York, 1970, cat. no. 638 (another example)

Heinz:
Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol, New York, 1970, cat. no. 637 (another example)
Georg Frei and Neil Printz, eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculptures, Volume 2A: 1964 - 1969, New York, 2004, cat. no. 760, p. 87, illustrated in color (another example) 

Kellogg's:
Rainer Crone, Andy Warhol, New York, 1970, cat. no. 636, p. 283, illustrated (another example)
Kynaston McShine, ed., Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, New York, 1989, pl. no. 189, p. 200, illustrated in color (another example)
Georg Frei and Neil Printz, eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Paintings and Sculptures, Volume 2A: 1964 - 1969, New York, 2004, cat. no. 929, p. 98, illustrated in color (another example)

The first series of Warhol's boxes were produced in unnumbered editions by the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1964. The catalogue raisonné has now determined the following approximate number of works for each individual box. 

Brillo: a 1964 first edition of approximately 100 of which 93 have been identified. Between 1968 - 1970, Warhol authorized special editions for the Moderna Museet, Stockholm (presumed set of 100 of which 94 have been identified) and the Pasadena Art Museum (set of 100, with an additional 16 identified to date)

Campbell's: approximately 100 of which 93 have been identified

Del Monte: approximately 35 of which 34 have been identified

Heinz: one prototype created in late 1963/early 1964 and approximately 100 of which 84 have been identified.

Kellogg's: a 1964 first edition of approximately 20 units of which 18 have been identified. A later edition of 100 boxes was produced in 1969 and 1970 for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  

Pop Art ushered in an era where the ready-made and commercial imagery transcended from their banal beginnings and obtained the status of ‘Fine Art’.  Warhol, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein were on the cutting edge of this new movement, and by 1964 were well on their way to rocking the art establishment.  Warhol’s earlier work as a commercial artist in the world of advertising aided his ability to ride the crest of the wave and he seemed to know instinctively which ideas and subjects would sell.  Drawing attention to the materialism of American culture, Warhol focused on brand names, working with imagery and logos with which every American – regardless of economic class – was intimately familiar.  Using throw-away products from every day life as his inspiration, Warhol appropriated such things as postage stamps, soup cans and money as his subjects.  After exploring multiple repetitions of stamps and money in a two-dimensional format, Warhol decided to represent a repetitive image in three-dimensional sculpture. 

Departing from Duchamp’s ready-mades, Warhol recreated a mass-produced item in a new medium.  Like Jasper John’s Ballantine Ale, Warhol borrowed, with little alteration, imagery from the low culture of mass-produced consumer goods, and simply by fashioning the item from a new medium (unaltered in its size and general appearance), elevated its status and declared it Art.  Taking his work on the Campbell’s Soup Cans one step further, Warhol did not even bother to depict the product itself; rather, he choose to depict the packaging material in which the product is shipped. 

Warhol had sent his assistant across the street to the grocery store with instructions to collect cardboard packaging.  Displeased at the young man’s choices, he sent out a second assistant, commanding “No, no, no.  I wanted something more ordinary” (David Bourdon, Andy Warhol, New York, 1989,  p. 182).  Using the throw-away packaging as his model (Brillo Soap Pads, Mott’s Apple Juice, Del Monte Peach Halves, Campbell’s Tomato Soup, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Heinz Tomato Ketchup), Warhol ordered the first series of wooden boxes, made in the exact dimensions as the originals, in unnumbered editions.  The wooden boxes were then painted to match the background color of the cardboard originals.  Five sides of the box (all except the bottom) were silk-screened, re-creating the very ‘ordinary’ boxes taken from the market.  The boxes were first exhibited together at Stable Gallery in 1964. The collectors walked into the two small rooms to find them crammed with hundreds of boxes, and movement around the space was nearly impossible.  The boxes were stacked and placed in rows on the floor, imitating a factory warehouse.  They were displayed to imply they could be bought as single units, or bought collectively, as groups – either mixed and/or multiples of the same.

Warhol was not only challenging the accepted definition of Art, but he was also challenging the ideas of ‘hand-made’ and ‘unique’ works of art.  Warhol stated that “paintings are too hard.  The things I want to show are mechanical.  Machines have less problems.  I’d like to be a machine, wouldn’t you?” (Ibid., p. 140) The silk-screening process coupled with the manufacturing of the wooden boxes to uniform specifications allowed Warhol to come as close as he could to actually acting as a machine.  However, the artistic process of creation still allowed these boxes to contain artistic merit.  They were made by hand – they are not Duchamp’s ready-mades - although they also do not show the same degree of uniqueness and hand-made qualities as John’s ale can sculptures.  At once a sly critique on American culture, these works also drew attention to the very subjective line between Art and product.  Produced in his studio – which he called The Factory - Warhol’s boxes are provocative works that undermine traditional definitions of originality, uniqueness and Art.