Flowers (black and white) (F. & S. II.100-109) (complete set)

Across the ten sheets, the arrangements range from full bouquets to sparse, sculptural compositions. In one, daisies and a large ruffled bloom spill from a narrow vase above a band of scribbled shadow. In another, a single rose sits in a plain bottle against a diagonal strip of zigzag hatching. Elsewhere, a long stem loops back on itself around a small flower, a sunflower head rises from a glass vase beside a curving branch, and a vase on a stacked base is tied with a knotted cord. The lines are quick and uneven, the shading is built up in heavy strokes, so the prints read more like drawings than the flat, photographic screenprints Warhol is best known for.

Within the Flowers (hand-coloured) series, this set sits alongside a version of the same ten images in which Warhol added watercolour to each sheet, making every impression unique. Seen without colour, the black and white set puts the drawn line first. It reflects a turn in Warhol’s 1970s printmaking towards a looser, more hand-made look. It also stands apart from his better-known Flowers of 1964 and 1970, which repeat a single photograph of hibiscus blossoms in flat, bright colour.