Lot Essay
Warhol produced a number of portraits representing Jacqueline Kennedy, using images depicting her both and after her husband's assassination, as well as scenes from the funeral. In the present work, Warhol used the "before" photograph of a smiling Jackie wearing her trademark pillbox hat, seated in the back of the car with the President during the motorcade.
It is notable that in the present work, Jackie is set within a field of gold paint and placed within a tondo format--the First Lady as religious icon. The tondo is traditionally associated with the Madonna, and gold paint/leaf of course, has religious significance as well. In his own work, Warhol reserved this combination for his Marilyn and Jackie portraits only.
As David Bourdon writes:
Warhol devised his powerful portraits of Jacqueline Kennedy from news photographs taken before and after President John F. Kennedy assassination in Dallas in November 1963... By cropping in on Mrs. Kennedy's face, Warhol emphasized the heavy emotional toll during those tragic closing days of November. The so-called Jackie Portraits, far from displaying any indifference on Warhol's part to the assassination, clearly reveal how struck he was by her courage during the ordeal (D. Bourdon, Warhol, New York, 1989, p. 181).
It is notable that in the present work, Jackie is set within a field of gold paint and placed within a tondo format--the First Lady as religious icon. The tondo is traditionally associated with the Madonna, and gold paint/leaf of course, has religious significance as well. In his own work, Warhol reserved this combination for his Marilyn and Jackie portraits only.
As David Bourdon writes:
Warhol devised his powerful portraits of Jacqueline Kennedy from news photographs taken before and after President John F. Kennedy assassination in Dallas in November 1963... By cropping in on Mrs. Kennedy's face, Warhol emphasized the heavy emotional toll during those tragic closing days of November. The so-called Jackie Portraits, far from displaying any indifference on Warhol's part to the assassination, clearly reveal how struck he was by her courage during the ordeal (D. Bourdon, Warhol, New York, 1989, p. 181).