Andy Warhol - Original Drawing
The Cat Sat Down and Looked at Me, (circa 1953)
Ink on paper
Source: Paul Kasmin Gallery New York, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Dimensions: 46.7 x 37.1 cm
Bibliography: Preparatory drawing for the illustrations in the book "25 Cats Named Sam and One Blue Pussy"
Information: Before Warhol achieved his status as an art superstar in the 1950s, he shared a studio apartment with his mother, Julia, on 57th Street in East Manhattan. They had adopted a kitten named Hester. To combat his cat's loneliness, Andy adopted more cats, eventually forming a colony of 25, all of whom he named Sam. This inspired him to publish a children's book in 1954, featuring 16 lithographs of his cats, titled "25 Cats Named Sam and One Blue Pussy." This was a collaborative effort with his mother, who contributed to the text. These were the first lithographs by the Pop Art master, exploring the theme of series composed of bold colors outlined in black, a technique later found in his famous silkscreen prints.
Dimensions :
- Height : 46,7 cm
- Width : 37,1 cm
Andy Warhol :
American artist of Slovak origins, he was born in Pittsburgh in 1928.
Warhol is a key figure of the American avant-garde, leader of The Pop Art movement since 1960's.
He graduated from Fine-Arts in 1949, and settled in New York to begin a career in advertising, using his draughtsman and illustrator's skills. Also creator of theater costumes, he chose an androgynous look and wore a platinum blonde wig and picked his name after his birth name: Andrew Warhola.
He realized his first works drawing inspiration from comics (Popeye, 1961) or labels of common consummation products (Del Monte Peach Halves, Coca-Cola, Campbell's Soup).
In 1962, Warhol took part in the « nouveaux réalistes » exhibition in New York, with Roy Lichtenstein and Yves Klein, which introduced Pop Art as an artistic movement.
Through silkscreen printing, he elaborated series about celebrities (Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy or Elvis). He also used them to revisit Mona Lisa's myth and proceeded to a study about flowers.
Warhol's art is close to cinema, in which he worked starting from 1963. He considerably inspired cinematographic avant-garde. Appearing often in magazines, he was considered as an marginal icon.
He opened his workshop-studio The « Factory » in 1963, which became one of the trendiest places of New York's life. The band The Velvet Underground, settled in it in its early stages. Warhol shot several experimental films there.
He met Keith Haring in 1983, became his mentor, and was then joined Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1986 to contribute to the renewal of expressionist figuration.
The artist died in New York in 1987.
