Andy Warhol

Acquired directly from the artist in 1974

Thence by descent to the present owners

Paris, Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Andy Warhol: Portraits, 1974 (i - iv)

Zurich, Kunsthaus Zürich, Andy Warhol, May – July 1978, p. 168, no. 147, illustrated (ii)

Venice, XXXIX Esposzione Internazionale “La Biennale di Venezia”. Arti visive ’80, 1980, p. 41, no. 1, illustrated (i - iv)

Naples, Maschio Angioino, Warhol, Viaggio in Italia, July – November 1996, p. 114, illustrated in colour (i), p. 115, illustrated in colour (ii), p. 116, illustrated in colour (iii) and (iv)

Rome, Chiostro del Bramante; Genoa, Palazzo Ducale, Warhol, Viaggio in Italia, April – November 1997, p. 118, illustrated in colour (i), p. 119, illustrated in colour (ii), p. 120, illustrated in colour (iii) and (iv)

Rome, Villa Medici, Incontri… Dalla Collezione di Graziella Lonardi Buontempo, September – November 2003, pp. 129 and 282, illustrated in colour (i - iv)

Achille Bonito Oliva, Gratis a bordo dell’arte, Milan 2000, n.p., no. X

Neil Printz and Sally King-Nero, Eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, Paintings and Sculptures 1970-1974, Vol. III, New York 2010, p. 328, no. 2573, illustrated in colour (i), p. 329, no. 2574, illustrated in colour (ii), p. 330, no. 2575 and no. 2576, illustrated in colour (iii) and (iv)

Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is fairly accurate, although the pink is more vibrant in the original. Condition: (i-iv clockwise) (i): This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals some light handling marks in places to all four edges, some wear to all four corner tips and some tiny fly spots in isolated places. There are some hairline tension cracks in places to the overturn edges and two faint networks of short hairline cracks, one towards the top right corner and one towards the top left centre edge. Further close inspection reveals a tiny loss towards the centre of the right edge and a small abrasion to the bottom left corner. No restoration is apparent under ultra-violet light. (ii): This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals some fly spots in places throughout and a minute loss to centre of the right edge. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light. (iii): This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals some hairline tension cracks in places to the overturn edges and some handling marks in places to all four edges. There are some tiny fly spots in isolated places. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light. (iv): This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals some hairline tension cracks in places to the overturn edges and some handling marks in places to all four edges. There are some tiny fly spots in isolated places. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet 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."

Andy Warhol’s four portraits of Graziella Lonardi Buontempo are an apt example of his 1970s corpus of Society Portraits, and a fitting tribute to one of the most important collectors of twentieth-century Italy. This series marked Warhol’s return to the medium of painting following an eight year hiatus during which he focussed mainly on film. Through execution of works such as the present, he documented the characters of the international beau monde and single-handedly “revived the crackle, glitter, and chic of older traditions of society portraiture” (Robert Rosenblum cited in: Exh. Cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Andy Warhol: Portraits of the 70s, 1980, p. 18). Amongst the series, the present work is made exceptional for the importance of its sitter, who was undoubtedly one of the most well-known and significant characters in the Italian art world in the latter half of the Twentieth Century.

Graziella Lonardi Buontempo was indomitable in her roles as collector, curator, patron, and friend to a litany of Italy’s most prominent 20^th century artists, including Alighiero Boetti, Enrico Castellani, Mario Merz, and Michelangelo Pistoletto. Moreover, by playing host to such prestigious international contemporary artists as Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys, and Cy Twombly, not to mention Andy Warhol, she served as a conduit for creativity between Europe and America throughout the 1970s. Lonardi Buontempo is most famous for founding Gli Incontri Internazionali d’Arte in 1970 in the Palazzo Taverna in Rome. Initial exhibitions were a huge success and she soon had the support of such titans of the Roman art world as Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana, and Giorgio de Chirico. Indeed, one of the most successful early exhibitions was a retrospective of the films of Andy Warhol. The artist travelled to Rome for the vernissage and stayed with Lonardi Buontempo in her apartment – the present work is the result of a polaroid photograph he took of her during that time.

Warhol’s society portraits are the largest and longest series of his career. Fittingly, given the Roman context of the present work, they have been compared to Ancient Roman statuary in their comprehensive record of the great and good of contemporaneous culture and their consistent use of the bust format. Others have pointed to the influence of police mug shots; Warhol was fascinated by these images and had directly relied upon them in a celebrated earlier work the Thirteen Most Wanted Men, 1964. Ultimately, Warhol understood the allure of the photographed image – he recognised the immutable power of the celebrity photographs in the gossip pages and fashion magazine. Through works such as the present, he identified the power that these images had over their viewers, appropriated their form, and subverted it, on an industrial level, for his own artistic ends.

In the bright splashy backgrounds, in the coquettish poses, in the big bouffant hair, and particularly in the strokes of saturated eyeshadow and lipstick, these four portraits seem intentionally imbued with a sense of synthetic glamour; almost an adumbration of the ‘photoshop’ era. This is a trait central to the celebrated portrait series and one that adds to the pseudo-utopian mood: everyone is beautiful, everyone is famous, and everyone is portrayed exactly as perfectly as is possible. In his use of the polaroid camera and screen-printing press, Andy Warhol created a portrait machine. However, in his cunning and perennially contemporaneously adroit choice of sitters, not least Graziella Lonardi Buontempo, Warhol created a fame machine, installing himself at the controls.