Andy Warhol

Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, June 15, 1979, Lot 146
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale

This painting is in very good condition. Please refer to the department for a condition report prepared by Terrence Mahon. Framed.
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.

First exhibited at the Musée Galliera in Paris in 1974, the Mao series represents Warhol's first critically and commercially successful cycle following his premature 'retirement' from painting in order to devote himself entirely to film making in 1965. After his near-fatal shooting in 1968 he entered a time of reflection and re-evaluation in his art and began making commissioned society portraits in the early 1970s. But the Mao series marked a significant stylistic turning point for Warhol, as Gregory Battcock noted at the time in his review of the Paris show:  "In the new works the combinations of splashy, expressionist elements with precise silkscreen images almost tend to cancel one another out or, at least, refute the precision of the screens." (Gregory Battcock, "Andy Warhol: New Predictions for Art" in 'Arts Magazine, May 1974, p.35). Unlike his earlier ineluctably flat silkscreen paintings, Mao is much more painterly in style with its loose brushwork of vibrant hand-painted acrylic-hues. The resulting expressivity adds a touch of subversion, obliterating the dignity and clarity of the original, authorless image. By treating Mao in his signature style, Warhol demotes him from a figure to be feared by American democratic ideals to an innocuous celebrity. Throughout the Cultural Revolution of the previous decade, Mao had all but extinguished popular culture and substituted himself in the place of stars of stage and screen; here Warhol ironically completes the prophecy, by lavishing on him the same treatment bestowed on American icons of Pop.