Andy Warhol's Women: Marilyn Monroe

Almost synonymous with Andy Warhol is the concept of celebrity; even more pointedly, the starlets and “it-girls” of the day who he immortalized in timeless works of art. Best recognized among Warhol’s starlets are the iconic representations he made of actress and model Marilyn Monroe. Warhol appropriated the photo photographer Gene Korman created in 1953 for the film “Niagara” for the purposes of creating his own art. Warhol had used this photo of Marilyn Monroe already for dozens of paintings and his varied use of line and color throughout the various prints shows the mechanized construction of Monroe’s public persona. Though she had died several years before the works were created, this was not atypical of Warhol as his fascination with both celebrity and death were well documented over course of his career. Instead of focusing on the tragedy of the starlets life however, Warhol decided to highlight her feminine and famed features of sultry eyes and pouting lips. While inter-changing the outrageous color combinations of pink, green, aqua, yellow, red, black and grey, Warhol created a lighthearted yet somewhat garish depiction of the woman who would become as famous in her death as she had been in life. The drastic variations in color and shadow in Warhol’s Marilyn portfolio are evident of his efforts to erase the mark of the artist in the art process.

The images were created by five separate screens, the first of which was the photographic image and the other four included different areas of color. Occasionally printed off register, creating a three dimensional effect, the Marilyn series is perhaps the most iconic of Warhol’s oeuvre. Printed in 1967 by Aetna Silkscreen Products, the full suite Marilyn Monroe portfolio consists of 10 screenprints on paper with 250 signed in pencil & numbered with a rubber stamp. That same year Warhol established Factory Additions in New York, a print-publishing business that continued printing through 1970. The Marilyn series was the first portfolio published by Factory Additions in 1967 & the screenprints are 36″ x 36″. Some of the series are signed with ball point pen while others are initialed on verso. Additionally, some of the edition has been dated. There are 26 AP which are signed and dated A-Z on the back on verso.

 For inquiries on available works by Andy Warhol including the Marilyn Monroe Portfolio, contact [email protected]