Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Details of Renaissance Paintings (Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1482) |
Artist |
Warhol, Andy |
Medium |
silkscreen on paper, ed. 68/70 |
Date |
1984 |
Description |
Andy Warhol was a leader in the 1960s Pop Art movement. Pop Art was based on American consumer culture and featured images from advertisements and common objects combined in a cool, detached manner with photographic elements. Warhol began his career as a commercial artist and became known for featuring brand name objects, such as Campbell's soup cans, and celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, in his work. In his 1984 portfolios, DETAILS OF RENAISSANCE PAINTINGS, Warhol shows his willingness to raid the most sacred bastions of art history for images which suggest a gesture of homage to the past, and at the same time, through their Pop color and poster-like style, promote a position of iconoclastic irreverence. These prints recall Warhol's 1963 MONA LISA painting which used the "superstar" of Old Master icons to call attention to the role of reproductions in our experience of the art masterpiece and its transformation into cliche. DETAILS develops the same idea, specifically focusing on how reproducing details frames our way of seeing art objects. Only Botticelli's BIRTH OF VENUS, 1482, has the same instant recognizability to most people as the MONA LISA. In 1984, Andy Warhol produced a series entitled "Details of Renaissance Paintings" featuring images from classical Renaissance art. In this particular silkscreen from the series, Warhol appropriated an image from Sandro Botticelli's 1482 painting, "Birth of Venus." Warhol's iconoclastic irreverence is evident in his use of Pop Art's poster-like style and bold color while simultaneously honoring the work of master artists of western art history. |
Collection |
Permanent Collection |
Dimensions |
H-32 W-44 inches |
Credit line |
1987 Purchase funded by the Albert & Helen Thalheimer Fund & David & Francine Thalheimer |