ANDY WARHOL, GOETHE (F. & S. II.273), GOETHE SERIES, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT IN COLOURS, EDITION OF 100, 1982
Sitting within a tradition of portraits by Andy Warhol of famous historical figures, Goethe (F. & S.II.273) is a print from the artists Goethe series (1982) that shows an image of the leading cultural hero Johann Wolfgang von Geothe. Considered to be the greatest German literary figure of modern times, Goethe was a polymath who became a prominent philosopher, scientist and colour theorist. Infatuated with the concept of fame, Goethe was an apt subject for Warhol to transform into a 1980s Pop Art icon.
Goethe (F. & S. II.272) is based on a painting of Goethe by Johan Tischbein, regarded as the most famous portrait in Germany. Much like his works inspired by the Mona Lisa in 1963, Warhol takes the original iconic painting and subverts it to question high art ideals on originality, authorship and what constitutes the value of art. In this iteration of the image, Warhol has removed the landscape background to focus instead on Goethe’s profile, in the style of his portraits from the 1960s of Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe...
This portrait is produced with stark contrasts of colour with pops of pink, blue and red against a beige backdrop, working to flatten the original image and render Goethe’s profile into a piece of Pop Art. Warhol also uses graphic lines to contour the image and presents a dichotomy between classical portraiture and the resulting Pop aesthetic. By staging Goethe, a figure of the classical past, as a superstar in the present, Warhol reflects on how mass media can change public perception of reality.
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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.
