Andy Warhol

Alexander Iolas, Athens
Acquired by the present owner from the above in the 1980s

This work is in very good condition overall. There is evidence of light wear and handling along the edges with associated very fine and stable craquelure. There are scattered areas along the edges, corners and sides of the canvas which have been retouched and fluoresce dimly under Ultraviolet light. There is a 1 1/2 inch vertical area of craquelure 2 inches from the right edge and 13 inches from the bottom, as well as a 1 1/2 inch area of craquelure located 3 inches from the right edge and 6 inches from the top edge which appear to have been stabilized. Unframed.
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's Crosses formed part of a 1982 exhibition in Madrid entitled "Guns, Knives and Crosses", a trinity of subjects linked at the time to the Spanish Civil War and the country's staunch Catholicism.  (The preceding exhibition in America juxtaposed the Guns and Knives with Dollar Bills).  However, these images clearly transcend their initial context, forming part of Warhol's lifelong meditation on beauty, death and the passage of time.  We can trace their lineage back to the iconic Death and Disaster series of the 1960s and the memento mori Skulls of the late 1970s.  Despite his love of fame and public life, Warhol was intimately acquainted with tragedy and came close to death himself when he was shot by Valerie Solanas in 1968, an incident from which he never fully recovered.  

The cross is, of course, one of the most instantly recognizable and emotionally divisive symbols of the last two millennia, loaded with religious, cultural and historical associations.  Warhol strips it to its simplest form, bringing to mind the rows of crosses in military cemeteries.  In the present work, the crosses are clustered in a fan-like shape, so that their symbolic load is diluted not only through replication but also through the grid design formed by the multitude of intersecting bars in blue, pink and green.  The association of the cross with the processes of industrial mass production can be interpreted as an irreverent take on the commoditization of religion, however it should also be remembered that Warhol was raised a Byzantine Catholic and that in the final years of his life he turned increasingly to Catholic themes.  He began to merge the secular and the sacred in works such as his Last Supper paintings, based on Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, and the series Details of Renaissance Paintings which features angels, Madonnas and the interiors of churches, sometimes in fragments.