Warhol Cows Repeated Print

Limited edition 302/500

Printmaking techniques, from the monoprint to stencils and the photo-silkscreen, were central to Andy Warhol’s work, from the inception of his career as an illustrator during the 1950s to his final works in 1987. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he had already achieved cultural celebrity but his career as a painter was in a period of transition and crisis, Warhol suddenly emerged as a brilliant and dedicated printmaker, producing portfolios of Marilyn Monroe(1967), Flash-November 22, 1963 (1968), Campbell’s Soup (1968-69), Flowers (1970), Electric Chairs (1971), Sunset (1972), and Mao (1972) in stunning succession.

Nearly every new series of Warhol’s paintings would be accompanied by a print portfolio, and his printmaking became increasingly innovative, introducing new media and techniques into his artistic practices, such as collage and diamond dust. As curator Donna De Salvo observed, Warhol’s “conceptualization of the printing process” was his metaphor for America, its myths, contradictions, and desires.