ANDY WARHOL, OYSTER STEW (F. & S. II.60), CAMPBELL’S SOUP II SERIES, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, EDITION OF 250, 1969
One of Andy Warhol’s most iconic motifs is featured in this screen print Campbell’s Soup II, Oyster Stew (F. & S. II.60) from the Campbell’s Soup II series (1967). Throughout the 1960s Warhol had produced images of familiar consumer items such as Coca-Cola bottles and soup cans, one of the earliest examples being a series of paintings entitled Campbell’s Soup Cans appearing at the Fergus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1962. Pursued to the point of obsession, the Campbell’s Soup Cans were Warhol’s archetypal subject.
The Campbell’s Soup Cans paintings were first shown together in uniform rows, displayed as though they were products on the supermarket shelf. Each work represents every flavour of soup sold by Campbell’s Soup and the image itself precisely mimics the red and white labels of the brand. This print corresponds with the oyster stew flavour sold by the brand and shows a gold circular logo in the middle with an added detail of the words “Important! Add whole milk’” across it.
Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup II series were one of the first portfolios to be published through Factory Additions, New York, a company the artist created to produce and distribute his prints. The prints were created by the machine-like screen print process, erasing the artist’s touch altogether and producing a precisely rendered image that exactly mimics the design of the soup can. Elevated to the realm of fine art and presenting these consumer products as objects for observation, Warhol poses a challenge to the value of art and the way art is consumed.
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ABOUT ANDY WARHOL
Andy Warhol (born Andrew Warhola) is a name synonymous with the celebrity culture and mass consumerism which coloured the boulevards of New York City in the Post World War II era. Born into a working class immigrant family in the urban landscape around the bustling metropolis, Warhol’s early life was characterised by a climb up the capitalist rungs of society.
The artist himself noted, “buying is more American than thinking, and I’m as American as they come”, this quote came to demarcate Warhol’s artistic practice as he embraced the commodification of the American Dream. The Pop artist’s beginnings in the business sector gave him the practical skill set to experiment with a more commercial approach to art throughout his career, particularly with regards to screen printing. Read more about Andy Warhol.
