Andy Warhol: The Early Sixties

Following a successful career as a commercial graphic designer, in the early sixties, Andy Warhol (1928–1987) decided to move on to work as a freelance artist. His focus, however, remained on the world of consumption and mass production. This publication illuminates Warhol’s crucial early years—from 1961 to 1964—as a painter and draftsman. During this period, he gradually replaced his individual pictorial language with already medialized (and thus collective) image material as well as the mechanical production of pictures, thus calling into question some of modernity’s fundamental categories. This volume examines this process based on numerous examples, such as the famous Campbell’s Soup Cans and Dollar Bills, the Elvis and Liz series, the Death & Disaster pictures, and the Flowers cycle from 1964. Concentration on the drawings and paintings of the early years demonstrates the far-reaching significance of this oeuvre for art history. (English edition ISBN 978-3-7757-2651-1)

Exhibition schedule: Kunstmuseum Basel, September 5, 2010–January 23, 2011