United Nations Stamp (F. & S. II.185)

In United Nations Stamp (F. & S. II.185), a black border frames a white field crowded with flat, overlapping shapes. A narrow yellow band runs down the left side, a large orange shape spreads behind the centre, and two curved bands, one blue and one purple, sweep down from the top edge like hanging ribbons. Rough black lines, drawn as if in crayon, trace the edges of the shapes without quite following them, and soft grey shadows fall to their right, giving the flat forms a sense of depth. At the lower left, the stamp of the United Nations Disaster Relief Office is cancelled with a Geneva postmark dated 09/03/1979. Warhol’s signature appears twice: a large signature runs vertically up the right edge, and a smaller one sits in the lower margin, beside the edition number.

Made in the same year as his Shadows series, the print shows Warhol working with abstraction, a rare turn for an artist best known for faces and consumer products. The real postage stamp gives the sheet the feel of a collectable first-day cover, linking a piece of everyday official paperwork to a work of art. At 22 x 28cm, it is one of Warhol’s smaller signed prints.