Andy
Warhol
(Pittsburgh, 1928 – New York, 1987)
Torso,
Circa 1977
Graphite on J. Green paper
Stamped on the back
- The Estate of Andy Warhol
- The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
and the handwritten number VF 63.004
104.1 x 71.1 cm
Provenance :
- Estate of Andy Warhol, New York
- The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New York
- Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
Exhibitions :
- Andy Warhol Nudes, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, from May 2 to June 23, 1995
- Andy Warhol: By Hand. Drawings 1950s - 1980s, New York Academy of Art, New York,
from January 22 to March 10, 2019
Literature :
- Andy Warhol Nudes by Linda Nochlin edited by John Cheim, exhibition catalog at the Robert Miller Gallery, The Overlook Press, Woodstock-New York, 1995, reproduced in color on p. 23
- Andy Warhol Men, Foreword by Alan Cumming, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, September 2004, described on p. 254 and reproduced in color on p. 212
- Will be reproduced in The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné in preparation by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
The exhibition Andy Warhol: By Hand, New York Academy of Art, New York, 2019, was curated by Vincent Fremont, co-founder of The Andy Warhol Foundation and David Kratz, President of The New York Academy of Art.
The following notice appeared on the design label:
"This male torso was used in Andy’s torso painting series. He liked to refer to them as "landscapes". The works are based on classic Greek and Roman statues. "
It was in 1971 that Andy Warhol began to take his famous Polaroid photos. Since then, the artist never left his Polaroid camera to capture in the moment actors, artists, dancers, politicians, socialites as well as the members of his Factory. These instant photos were often used as preparatory work for his silkscreen portraits, drawn or painted. They also revealed his immediate personal vision functioning as a chronicle of his environment and social life.
In 1977, Warhol produced two particularly daring new series entitled Sex Parts and Torsos. The Sex Parts series features scenes of sex acts, blurring the line between art and pornography. It is an interesting counterpart to what Robert Mapplethorpe was creating at the same time in the late 1970s. In the Torsos series, the models take poses reminiscent of ancient statuary and classic nudes of Grand Art.
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