MAO - NO. 19

THE GENESIS OF WARHOL'S MAO PORTRAITS IS RELATED TO US BY DAVID BOURDON: '"SINCE FASHION IS ART NOW AND CHINESE IS IN FASHION, I COULD MAKE A LOT OF MONEY. MAO WOULD BE REALLY NUTTY...NOT TO BELIEVE IN IT, IT'D JUST BE FASHION...BUT THE SAME PORTRAIT YOU CAN BUY IN THE POSTER STORE. DON'T DO ANYTHING CREATIVE, JUST PRINT IT UP ON CANVAS." MAO'S APPEAL FOR WARHOL WAS PARTLY DUE TO THE SIMPLE FACT THAT HIS FACE - DISPLAYED IN STOREFRONTS AND ON STREET CORNERS THROUGHOUT CHINA - WAS ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNISEABLE FACES IN THE WORLD. BUT WARHOL ALSO RELISHED THE FACT THAT, FOR MANY AMERICANS, MAO'S FACE SYMBOLIZED AN ALIEN AND THREATENING FORM OF GOVERNMENT, WHICH HE ACCURATELY AND PERVERSELY PREDICTED WOULD MAKE HIS PORTRAIT MORE APPEALING TO CAPITALIST COLLECTORS IN THE WEST. SOON, WARHOL WAS REPEATING MAO'S PLUMP FACE ON CANVASES, IN PENCIL DRAWINGS, IN SILKSCREEN PRINTS, AND ON WALLPAPER.
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ANDY WARHOL BASED HIS PORTRAITS OF MAO ON AN OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE COMMUNIST LEADER. UNLIKE MOST OF HIS EARLIER PORTRAITS, HE DECIDED TO RENDER THESE IN A MORE PAINTERLY STYLE, FREELY BRUSHING A SOMEWHAT EXPRESSIONIST BACKGROUND OF COLORS BEFORE SILKSCREENING THE IMAGE.' (D. BOURDON, ANDY WARHOL, NEW YORK 1989, PP. 317-318)