ANDY WARHOL | Judith Green [Three Works]

Estate of Andy Warhol
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., New York
Private Collection, Switzerland
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2008

i. Georg Frei and Neil Printz, Eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. 01, Paintings and Sculpture 1961-1963, New York 2002, cat. no. 499, p. 432, illustrated in color
ii. Georg Frei and Neil Printz, Eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. 01, Paintings and Sculpture 1961-1963, New York 2002, cat. no. 502, p. 433, illustrated in color
iii. Georg Frei and Neil Printz, Eds., The Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. 01, Paintings and Sculpture 1961-1963, New York 2002, cat. no. 504, p. 434, illustrated in color

These works are in very good condition overall. There is evidence of wear and handling along the edges of each canvas including hairline craquelure at the pull margins with very minor and unobtrusive spots of loss most noticeably on the extreme corners of each canvas. A light surface soiling and evidence of rubbing is visible on each canvas. Under Ultralight inspection of each, there is no evidence of restoration. Each canvas is framed. i. There is a pinpoint spot of loss approximately 7-inches from the top and 4.5-inches from the left edge and a pinpoint spot of loss at the left of the figure’s lips. The canvas undulates very slightly. iii. There is a small and unobtrusive protrusion in the lower left corner.
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.

Undoubtedly one of the most important artists of the 21st Century, Andy Warhol forever changed the art world. After working as a commercial artist, Warhol decided he wanted to become a “real” artist. His portrait of Judith Green is an early and striking example of his first foray into what he considered to be more serious art. As Warhol said, “Business art is the step that comes after art. I started as a commercial artist, and I want to finish as a business artist. Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. During the hippie era people put down the idea of business. They’d say 'money is bad' and 'working is bad.' But making money is art, and working is art - and good business is the best art.” Commissioned portraits allowed Warhol not only to perfect his craft but also to become closer to his subjects and the world in which they lived – a world in which Warhol desired to enter. Warhol was a mastermind at making people feel like they were the most important person in the room. That ability allowed him to turn Polaroids or photo-booth strips of people into Polaroids or photo-booth strips of stars. For Warhol, it was not the subject that mattered, it was their pose. In the present work, Warhol coached Judith Green (nee Heiman) through various looks in a Times Square photo-booth. While a regular feature on the New York social scene and an accomplished writer in her own right, Green was no star before Warhol. However, Warhol was able to capture her as we would like to think she viewed herself: a confident, cool, independent woman who was going places.

Judith Green [Three Works] is one of the first portrait commissions, immediately following his famous 36 part work depicting Ethel Scull, which is jointly owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The violet, teal and orange-red portraits were silkscreened onto canvas using enlarged and specifically selected images from their Times Square photo-shoot. Judith Green provided Warhol with just what he needed: an attractive and successful 29-year old New Yorker. She also was just the beginning of what was to come. Warhol would later complete commissioned portraits of a roster of who’s who – from Mao to Nelson Rockefeller, Beethoven to Mick Jagger, Marilyn Monroe to everyone in between. For Warhol portraiture became his way of moving up in the world: “Warhol’s upward mobility was supersonic. Instead of getting the super stars' photo from movie magazines or the Sunday color supplement, he himself quickly invaded their society on equal terms, and could be begged by prospective sitters to turn his own Polaroid camera on their fabled faces in both public and private moods. He had become a celebrity among celebrities, and an ideal court painter to the 1970s international aristocracy that mixed, in wildly varying proportions, wealth, high fashion, and brains" (Robert Rosenblum, "Andy Warhol Court Painter to the 70s" in Exh. Cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Andy Warhol Portraits of the 70s, 1979, p. 15).

Warhol, who would soon become King of the Culture Industry, mass producer of mass imagery, was the first to frame a subject like a studio still, using a photobooth polaroid camera. Through this technique, Warhol was able to first depict people in his life as celebrities and later celebrities themselves as America uniquely perceives them, with idolatry: as our royalty, as our gods. Even the present work bears  the visual vocabulary of cinema. Warhol's heroes and heroines, under his gaze, "become dreams that money can buy" (Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Cambridge 1994, p.189). An early subject, Judith Green paved the way for Warhol’s success. Her fun-spirited poses allowed Warhol an opportunity to capture someone in their true spirit.



i. This work is stamped twice by the Estate of Andy Warhol, three times by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., and numbered VF PO60.045 twice on the overlap. This work is also numbered PO60.045 on the stretcher.
ii. This work is stamped twice by the Estate of Andy Warhol, twice by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., and numbered VF PO60.042 twice on the overlap. This work is also numbered PO60.042 on the stretcher.
iii. This work is stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., and numbered VF PO60.040 twice on the overlap. This work is also numbered PO60.040 on the stretcher.