Mao – All Works

Label Text Andy Warhol created paintings, prints, and sculpture, as well as being a writer, filmmaker, and musical producer, His fame stems as much from the eccentric public persona he invented for himself as his creative output. His iconic serial portraits of the rich and famous are instantly recognizable, and his prescient theory that everyone will be famous for 15 minutes has become a reality in today’s social media-saturated culture. By using mass-produced objects as his inspiration, as well as relying on screenprinting rather than painting, Warhol questioned the principal of artistic originality, utilizing familiar images and practices almost anyone could repeat. In altering and engaging with imagery as emblematic and politically charged as Mao Tse Tung's formal portrait, Warhol also questioned the meaning of the original source, offering a commentary on Mao's use of his own face as propaganda as well as transforming the Chinese leader into aesthetic content.
Exhibition History"Andy Warhol: Print Portfolios", Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Published References"Pop Art/Pop Culture: Neo-Dada and the Politics of Plenty," Estera Milman, in _The Image in Dispute: Art and Cinema in the Age of Photography,_ ed. Dudley Andrew, U. Texas Press (Austin, 1997), pp. 181-204, b/w repr. p. 193

DimensionsFrame: 38 3/4 × 38 3/4 × 1 3/4 in. (98.4 × 98.4 × 4.4 cm)
Sheet: 36 × 36 in. (91.4 × 91.4 cm)

Accession Number 1974.93.1

Classificationsprint

SignedAndy Warhol (verso)

InscriptionsA.P. 43/50 (verso)

EditionAP 43/50

Paper/SupportStiff wove paper

ProvenanceArtist; Peter M. Brant, Greenwich, CT [acquired by 1974]; Des Moines Art Center [gift of the previous, 1974]