Anastasia Orfanidou
Specialist, Head of Sale, Greek Sales
Lot 80AR
Andy Warhol
(American, 1928-1987)
Alexander the Great (F&S. II.291)
22 November 2023, 12:00 CET
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €140,100 inc. premium
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Anna Tchoudnowsky
Sale Coordinator
Athens - Art Expertise
Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987)
Alexander the Great (F&S. II.291)
Sérigraphie en couleurs, 1982, sur carton du Lenox Museum, signée et numérotée « 13/25 » au crayon, imprimée par Rupert Jasen Smith, avec son cachet aveugle, publiée par Alexander Iolas, New York
100.3 x 100.3cm (39 1/2 x 39 1/2in).
Screenprint in colours, 1982, on Lenox Museum Board, signed and numbered '13/25' in pencil, printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, with his blindstamp, published by Alexander Iolas, New York
Sérigraphie en couleurs, 1982, sur carton du Lenox Museum, signée et numérotée « 13/25 » au crayon, imprimée par Rupert Jasen Smith, avec son cachet aveugle, publiée par Alexander Iolas, New York
100.3 x 100.3cm (39 1/2 x 39 1/2in).
Screenprint in colours, 1982, on Lenox Museum Board, signed and numbered '13/25' in pencil, printed by Rupert Jasen Smith, with his blindstamp, published by Alexander Iolas, New York
Footnotes
Provenance
Acquired from Alexander Iolas.
Private Collection, Athens.
Littérature
Frayda Feldman and Jörg Schellmann, Andy Warhol Prints, A Catalogue Raisonné, 1962-1987, Fourth Edition, Milan, 2003, no. II.291
Published by Alexander Iolas in cooperation with the Hellenic Heritage Foundation to coincide with "The Search for Alexander" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 27, 1982 - January 3, 1983.
Throbbing with restless energy fuelled by a spectacle of dazzling colours, Warhol's Alexander the Great captures the radiance, glamour and regal grace of the Macedonian conqueror. The purple ground echoes Van Gogh's luminous backdrops, while the sinuous linear highlights, which trace their origin to the ancient Greek vase painting, reconstruct the young king's face in an expressionist manner akin to Rouault or even the Gothic and Byzantine portraits Warhol himself used to admire.
The independence of colour from the confines of the contour energises the entire image, recalling the bold experimentations of such surrealists as Miro and Masson, who dismantled and reassembled the constituent parts of figurative painting. The portrait of the undefeated commander is finally recomposed as an amazing cubist collage which ingeniously oscillates between reality and illusion, underlining Alexander's enduring image as both a historic personality and legendary figure.