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Lot Essay
Andy Warhol's celebrated Flowers series provide an immediate sensory experience of the decorative. Full-petaled blossoms burst forth from a variegated pattern of leaves and grasses. As shown in the present work, the four white blossoms against dense foliage of green and black present a striking image of brilliant color contrast. The purity of the white flowers is a refreshing departure from his standard Flowers consisting of Day-Glo colors. What is typically seen as Warhol's delivery of mass-produced imagery takes on a luster of elegance.
Flowers is a ready-made image of sorts. Warhol appropriated a color photograph of hibiscus flowers from the June 1964 issue of Modern Photography. He manipulated the image by cropping the photograph and rotating one of the flowers to conform to the square format. He then color-blocked the screening so that the blossoms became discrete elements that seem to hover above the background. As Bourdon noted, "The illusion that the floating blossoms do not occupy the same surface as the background, was created by the intensity of the chroma contrast, a striking demonstration of the ability of the colors to suggest advancing or receding planes" (D. Bourdon, Andy Warhol, New York, 1989, pp. 191-192).
Flowers is a ready-made image of sorts. Warhol appropriated a color photograph of hibiscus flowers from the June 1964 issue of Modern Photography. He manipulated the image by cropping the photograph and rotating one of the flowers to conform to the square format. He then color-blocked the screening so that the blossoms became discrete elements that seem to hover above the background. As Bourdon noted, "The illusion that the floating blossoms do not occupy the same surface as the background, was created by the intensity of the chroma contrast, a striking demonstration of the ability of the colors to suggest advancing or receding planes" (D. Bourdon, Andy Warhol, New York, 1989, pp. 191-192).