ANDY WARHOL, LADIES & GENTLEMEN (F. & S. II.136), LADIES & GENTLEMEN SERIES, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, 1975
Ladies & Gentlemen (F. & S. II.136) is one of Andy Warhol’s lesser-known prints from the Ladies & Gentlemen series (1975) that features 14 anonymous Black and Latinx drag queens and trans women. This particular print is of Wilhelmina Ross, a transwoman who, alongside Marsha P. Johnson, was a prominent member of the famous drag revue Hot Peaches.
The subjects of the Ladies & Gentlemen series were recruited by Warhol’s friends Bob Colacello and Robbie Cutrone. Most of the models were spotted by the men in the Gilded Grape bar in Manhattan, a popular space where New York’s Black and Latinx trans women and drag queens came to spend time with one another. Warhol then took over 500 Polaroids of 14 sitters, paying each of them only $50. Warhol seemed to have been particularly enamoured by Ross who featured heavily in the series, across 52 Polaroids, 73 paintings, 29 drawings and five collage portraits.
Warhol explores themes of performance, glamour and personality throughout the series, and in this print show Ross in an elegant fashion as she poses in a headscarf, looking upwards with her hand elegantly draped around her neck. The black and white screen print has a grainy quality and expressive marks of brown, blue, pink, purple and yellow are layered on top. Similar to many of Warhol’s prints, this image explores the relationship between the mechanical screen print process and more abstract, gestural paint strokes. The splashes of colour also work to heighten the element of glamour in the portrait.
Discover more artwork by Andy Warhol.
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.
