Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland Royal Edition (F. & S. II.347A)
Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland Royal Edition (F. & S. II.347A)
Signed Print
Andy Warhol
100 x 80cm, Edition of 30, Screenprint, 1985
Price data unavailable
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
Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland Royal Edition (F. & S. II.347A) is a signed screenprint by Andy Warhol, made in 1985 in an edition of 30. It shows Queen Ntombi Twala facing the viewer and smiling, her face printed in warm orange and deep red beneath a navy headdress ringed with yellow, against a pale blue ground. It belongs to the Reigning Queens series.
In Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland Royal Edition (F. & S. II.347A), the Queen’s face is printed in glowing orange with deep red shadows, her lips and eyes picked out in pale lilac. A large rounded headdress in navy blue sits above her head, circled by jagged yellow shapes outlined in fine red line. A beaded collar circles her neck, with two decorated panels hanging at the front. A patterned garment in blue and violet crosses her shoulders. Two flat blocks interrupt the pale blue ground: a narrow grey bar runs down the left side, and a green square, tilted on its corner, sits at the lower right, scored with loose drawn lines.
The Reigning Queens series features four ruling queens of the time: Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Beatrix of the Netherlands, Margrethe II of Denmark and Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, now Eswatini. Each appears in four colourways. Alongside the standard edition of 40, Warhol produced a smaller Royal Edition of 30, finished with diamond dust, which catches the light across the surface of the print. Here, the cool blue ground sets off the warm tones of the face. The grey and green blocks bring the abstract colour fields of Warhol’s later portraits into the composition.
