Hans Christian Andersen (F. & S. II.397)

The fourth image in the Hans Christian Andersen portfolio is the most formal and the most strongly symmetrical. A flat-topped head with a simple face sits above wide, raised arms, the right hand holding a small hanging object. The body widens into a skirt-like form with a tall arched opening, below which a column of short rectangular cut-outs leads down to a base. On either side of the base a small standing figure holds a curved form. The whole shape stands on a narrow plinth.

As with the other silhouette images, it reads as a cut-paper design translated into screenprint, with a heavy graphic outline and no internal modelling. In this colourway the figure is a soft, sugary pink on a near-black ground, with a vertical band of dark maroon brushwork down the right edge that breaks the otherwise controlled geometry. The pink makes the severe symmetry of the figure look gentler, almost childlike, which suits the material.

The same image appears in white on black in F. & S. II.401. Printed together, the two versions show how Warhol used colour to move an image between the solemn and the playful.