安迪·沃荷

Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich
Acquired directly from the above by the previous owner in 2005

Munich, Galerie Bernd Klüser, Lenin by Warhol, 1987, p. 39, no. 20, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the tonality of the face is pinker in the original. The catalogue illustration fails to convey the lighter silkscreened area to the left of the head and shoulders. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals minor wear to the top right corner tip. Close inspection reveals a minor rub mark to the top of the figure's right ear and another to the right of the figure's cheekbone. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet light.
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Lenin is an astonishingly powerful large-scale work from Andy Warhol’s magnificent last series, an intensely dramatic image that projects the immense presence of its subject inexorably outwards. Darkly magnetic in its compelling authority, the work demands the complete and utter attention of the viewer, with Lenin‘s gaze being almost ferocious in its intensity.  Lenin’s pale face, delineated in vibrant yellow and bright pink pigment, hovers luminously within the inky depths of the black background; the book he reads is similarly highlighted, with the brightness of hand and cuff contrasting brilliantly with the darkness beyond. Warhol’s appropriation of Lenin’s image instantly propels the subject into the pantheon of iconic figures commemorated and honoured by the artist: Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy and Elvis. Already instantly recognisable to millions worldwide, Lenin’s image is further magnified and celebrated by Warhol’s masterful adaptation of the Communist leader’s features, serving as the inspiration for a truly memorable and magisterial series of paintings. Created at the instigation of gallery owner Bernd Klüser, the Lenin series was consequently imbued with an added poignancy due to the dating of the corresponding exhibition, which opened only two days after Warhol’s unexpected demise. In his introduction to the Lenin exhibition, Klüser recalled his own impressions of the extraordinary paintings and how proud Warhol was of the finished works: “I shall never forget the impression created by the large-format portraits when I saw them lined up together against one of the walls in the Factory. Nor will I forget how proud Andy Warhol was of this series…” (Bernd Klüser, in Exhibition Catalogue, Munich, Galerie Bernd Klüser, Lenin by Warhol, 1987, p. 68).

The source photograph for the Lenin series was discovered by Klüser in Italy in 1985 and shown to Warhol shortly afterwards. A close-up of a group photograph originally taken in 1897, the image had been modified in 1948 in order to remove the figures standing around Lenin, many of whom had become his ideological or political opponents by the time of his assumption of power in 1917. Though Stalin’s dominance was absolutely unquestioned by 1948, it was in the U.S.S.R leader’s own interest to doctor Soviet history in order to banish the memory of those whom might have been ‘purged’ in the violent zeal of the early years of the Soviet Union. Lenin’s premature death in 1924 led to a cult being created around the Bolshevik leader by his successors as a means of validating their own, often parlous, claim to power. The photograph of Lenin unearthed by Klüser was thus a fascinating historical document on several levels, and Warhol seems to have immediately recognised its immense artistic potential, instantly captivating his interest. Klüser recalls the process of creating the Lenin series throughout 1986: “We agreed that he would do a series of pictures in three different sizes, together with a set of drawings and collages and a silkscreen print edition. Warhol promptly set to work on a series of drawings. Our experiments with the prints over a period of several months had a considerable influence on the eventual look of the series as a whole. The range of colours was reduced, the drawing round the head was modified, and the background became a deep black, as in the original photograph.” (Bernd Klüser in Ibid, p. 68). The use of colour within the series is more bold and definitive, in many respects, than within several of Warhol’s earlier series: the solid colour blocks of the backgrounds instil the portraits with an extraordinary sense of gravitas and profundity, whilst the minimal brushwork on the surface reinforces Lenin’s ascetic contours with remarkable grace.

As with all of Warhol's best work, the Lenin Series highlights the artist's talent not only his inspired use of an exceptionally strong and resounding source image, but also his unique ability to preserve the character of the original photograph while simultaneously undermining the viewer's expectation through the play of colour, depth and other alterations to the original details. Ultimately, Lenin is a truly magnificent work from Warhol’s powerful final series: a masterful re-invention of communist propaganda ironically re-created by Warhol, one of the Twentieth Century’s most celebrated leaders and perpetuators of consumer culture.