Andy Warhol

Jablonka Galerie, Cologne
Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1988

This work is in good condition. There is a diagonal crease in the canvas at the bottom right corner. At, and in the vicinity of all four corners, there is evidence of craquelure and lines of associated in-painting. There is evidence of craquleure and inpainting 18 in. from the top, at the right edge of the canvas. There is evidence of craquelure and inpainting 21 in. from the bottom at the right edges of the canvas. There is a small patch which fluoresces under ultraviolet light at the bottom of the canvas, 29 in. from the right edge. Framed in a black frame.
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.

Andy Warhol was a constant innovator throughout his career. Nevertheless he always liked to revisit some of his favorite motif in order to reinvestigate them with a new meaning. By the mid 1980s his Campbell's Soup Paintings had become universally recognized and famous as the product itself -icons of the every day in their own right had led Ivan Karp to announce that, "Tomato Soup will never be the same again." This is something that Warhol himself acknowledges in the series of monumental 'retrospective' Campbell's canvases he made in 1985; works took the iconic brand he had made his own more than twenty years earlier and flattened it across a large canvas.  In order to achieve this effect of absolute flatness, something he had sought and continually refines in his paintings from the start, rather than using three dimensional tinned cans of Campbell's soup, this time he looked to the brand's brightly colored, mass-produces cardboard boxes. Flattening their forms to fit the large, two dimensional format of the canvas, it saw Warhol fusing the serial flatness of works like 100 Campbell's Soup Cans with the sculptural forms of his earliest Campbell's soup Boxes. The regulating paintings are late masterpieces which rank amongst the most complex, symbolic and technically assured of his career.