Spotlight | Andy Warhol: 20 Under 20

From 1953 to 1959, Warhol self-published a series of portfolios, books and individual prints – each work was produced as an offset lithograph, with Warhol employing his blotted line, the graphic technique he had developed while a student at Carnegie.

Andy WARHOL

Holy Cats by Andy Warhol’s Mother

First edition, 8vo (23 x 14.5 cm); 20 lithographs on various coloured wove papers, printed recto only, with ‘The Estate of Andy Warhol’ and ‘Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ stamps to lower pastedown, numbered in pencil ‘PM 21.0048'

£8,500

1. 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy, circa 1954

One of Warhol’s first illustrated bound books. Produced with Seymour Berlin of Record Offset Corporation in New York, and written by Charles Lionsby, Warhol illustrated 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy with sixteen drawings of cats, each named Sam, and a seventeenth captioned ‘One Blue Pussy’.  The blotted lines effortlessly articulate the fur coats and expressive faces of Sam and the one blue pussy.

Warhol created his bound books to promote his commercial illustration and sent them to clients. One such recipient, Diana Vreeland, then fashion editor for Harper’s Bazaar and later Vogue, found her copy of Warhol’s 25 cats name[d] Sam, and one blue pussy, to be ‘Charming!’

25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy, further features calligraphy by Warhol’s mother, Julia Warhola, with whom Warhol lived in New York City from 1952 to 1970.  She was the first to nurture his artistic interest and shared with him the folk-crafts of her Carpatho-Rusyn homeland – she practised embroidery, handmade tin and paper flowers, and decorated eggs. What influenced Warhol most however was Julia’s drawing and calligraphy, and admiring her style, he asked his mother to contribute her handwritten script to 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy.

Throughout this joint project Warhol embraced all of his mother’s calligraphic idiosyncrasies; even when she made a mistake, Warhol adored it. Warhol chose to include his mother’s slip-ups in his finished product to such an extent that the title, 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy, owes its origin to one such quirk – as Julia mistakenly left off the ‘d’ in ‘named’. The style and character of Warhol’s early drawings are typical of his mother, with similarities between Warhol’s 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy and Julia’s Holy Cats, 1954.

Andy WARHOL

Untitled, from 25 Cats Name[d] Sam and One Blue Pussy

Offset lithograph, circa 1954, on wove paper, with the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Warhol Foundation ink stamps on the reverse.

 49.1 x 34.2 cm. (19¼ x 13½ in.)

£6,500

25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy, further features calligraphy by Warhol’s mother, Julia Warhola, with whom Warhol lived in New York City from 1952 to 1970.  She was the first to nurture his artistic interest and shared with him the folk-crafts of her Carpatho-Rusyn homeland – she practised embroidery, handmade tin and paper flowers, and decorated eggs. What influenced Warhol most however was Julia’s drawing and calligraphy, and admiring her style, he asked his mother to contribute her handwritten script to 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy.

Throughout this joint project Warhol embraced all of his mother’s calligraphic idiosyncrasies; even when she made a mistake, Warhol adored it. Warhol chose to include his mother’s slip-ups in his finished product to such an extent that the title, 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy, owes its origin to one such quirk – as Julia mistakenly left off the ‘d’ in ‘named’. The style and character of Warhol’s early drawings are typical of his mother, with similarities between Warhol’s 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy and Julia’s Holy Cats, 1954.

Andy WARHOL

Greengages a la Warhol, from Wild Raspberries

Offset lithograph with hand-colouring, 1959, on wove paper.

44.3 x 57 cm

£5,750

2. Wild Raspberries, circa 1959

Another stunning portfolio of uniquely hand-coloured offset lithographs displaying Warhol’s signature blotted line technique. Alongside A Gold Book, 1957, Wild Raspberries is considered one of the most elaborate of Warhol’s self-published works from this period.

Warhol created his bound books to promote his commercial illustration and sent them to clients. One such recipient, Diana Vreeland, then fashion editor for Harper’s Bazaar and later Vogue, found her copy of Warhol’s 25 cats name[d] Sam, and one blue pussy, to be ‘Charming!’

The series contains vividly hand coloured illustrations of fanciful foods by Warhol, alongside irreverent and deliberately absurd recipes concocted by Susie Frankfurt. Just as he did in 25 cats name[d] Sam, and One Blue Pussy, Warhol once again invited his mother, Julia Warhola, to contribute her calligraphic script for the recipes. By this point, Julia was an award-winning calligrapher, having won an award from the American Institute for Graphic Arts for The Story of Moondog, 1957 – an album that featured Julia’s script as the only piece of art on its cover.

Many of the illustrations within Wild Raspberries are based upon early twentieth-century colour reproductions of French desserts. Each of Warhol’s fanciful foods are brightly hand-coloured using Dr Martin’s aniline watercolour dyes, executed by Warhol and his friends at Warhol’s coveted colouring parties – making each print unique.

The title of Warhol and Frankfurt’s series, Wild Raspberries, is a play on the name of the popular Ingmar Bergman film Wild Strawberries.  Warhol and Frankfurt clearly intended that Wild Raspberries act as an antidote to the serious cookbooks of the 1950s and the promotion of the perfect housewife.

Susie Frankfurt (1931-2005), Warhol’s collaborator for Wild Raspberries, was a prominent American interior designer and part of Warhol’s innermost circle. Known for using Biedermeier and Russian antiques in her decorating, her traditional personal style juxtaposed that of Warhol’s modern Pop Art – proving that not all of Warhol’s friends were avant-garde. Frankfurt and Warhol first met at the New York Plaza Hotel in 1952 after one of Warhol’s shows at Serendipity – the restaurant-come-art-gallery where Warhol would trade his shoe illustrations for a free meal. Together, Frankfurt and Warhol parodied the French haute cuisine cookbooks that circulated in the 1950s, concocting humorous parodies of recipes, creating Waterzoie for Cecil Beaton, Piglet a la Trader Vic’s, Greenages a la Warhol and Sheeps Trotter Poulette for Wild Raspberries.

4. Spotlight | Shot Blue Sage Marilyn 

UPCOMING EXHIBITION

Featuring Andy Warhol's vibrant, flamboyant, hand-coloured lithographs from the 1950s and elegant still-life screenprints from the 1970s, the exhibition invites you to revisit the creative world of one of the most famous artists of all time.

Click here to review the show.

Shapero Modern specialises in Modern & Contemporary prints, multiples and works on paper, with a particular focus on American 20th-century art all of which are available to buy from our website as well as our gallery on Maddox Street in Mayfair. 

The gallery runs a programme of selling exhibitions from both primary and secondary market artists, with six exhibitions per year, including collaborations with contemporary living artists as well as masters of 20th-century post-war editions including Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Claes Oldenburg, Alex Katz, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. 

Shapero Modern exhibits at major international Art Fairs worldwide, including TEFAF Maastricht, Frieze Masters, Masterpiece London, Art Miami, the IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair and the London Original Print Fair at Somerset House. Meantime, Tabitha and her team are on hand at Shapero Modern’s Mayfair gallery in the heart of London to advise on all aspects of the art market and collecting.