Andy Warhol Screenprint Marylin (Black & White) Unsigned Trial Proof 38 x 38

Trial proof screen print, 1981, unsigned and unnumbered, outside the regular edition.

Reference: "Andy Warhol Prints", Feldman Shellmann Catalogue Raisonné, Myths Suite, entry #II.265, page 119.

Printer: Rupert Jasen Smith, New York, with his blind stamp lower right corner.

Publisher: Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc, New York, with notification stamp from Walt Disney Productions, Inc.

Marilyn Monroe, alike Andy Warhol, is one of the most infamous figures of pop culture. Marilyn represents the glamour, charm and iconic status that Andy Warhol loved in his subjects.In the 1960s, Andy Warhol created many “mass-produced” images from photographs of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Jackie Onassis.

Andy Warhol’s usage of Marilyn Monroe’s image directly after her suicide is a testament to the twisted nature of Warhol’s work. Andy Warhol made beauty out of tragedy, and tragedy out of beauty. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe images capture the pop art essence: to bring popular culture into the household as art, as a critical comment on traditional fine art values.