Mao (F. & S. II.98)
Mao (F. & S. II.98)
Signed Print
Andy Warhol
91 x 91cm, Edition of 250, Screenprint, 1972
£21,000-£30,000
$40,000-$60,000 Market Value Indicator
$40,000-$60,000 Market Value Indicator
¥190,000-¥270,000 Market Value Indicator
€25,000-€35,000 Market Value Indicator
$220,000-$320,000 Market Value Indicator
¥4,380,000-¥6,250,000 Market Value Indicator
$28,000-$40,000 Market Value Indicator
There aren't enough data points on this work for a comprehensive result. Please speak to a specialist by making an enquiry.
Track auction value trend
Meaning & Analysis
Mao (F. & S. II.98) is a screenprint made in 1972, one of ten prints in Warhol's Mao series. It presents a near-square frontal portrait of Mao Zedong against a deep cobalt blue background applied with visible brushwork, the face rendered in warm brown and burnt ochre tones with broad gestural marks. Loose ink scribbles appear in the lower portion of the composition. Signed and numbered from an edition of 250.
F. & S. II.98 is among the most forceful variants in the 1972 Mao series. Where other prints in the edition adopt lighter or more decorative grounds – sage green, soft pink, cream – this version sets Mao's face against an intense cobalt blue that gives the portrait a charged, almost confrontational quality. The background is applied with visible impasto-like brushwork, varying in density and weight across the surface.
The face departs from the near-photographic precision of some prints in the series. The warm brown and ochre tones are broadly applied, the gestural marks within the face more assertive – the result is rawer, less resolved, sitting in evident tension with the mechanical flatness of the screenprinted layer beneath. Mao's mouth is slightly open, showing white teeth: a smiling, approachable image of a figure whose official portraiture was never without gravity.
The ink scribbles in the lower portion – Warhol's handmade interference across the mechanical print – vary by impression across the edition, making each print technically distinct. The contradiction this introduces is the series' central conceit: a hand-altered mechanical reproduction of the ultimate mass-reproduced portrait, each impression unique within a run of 250.
