ANDY WARHOL, VESUVIUS (F. & S. II.365), VESUVIUS CYCLE SERIES, SCREEN PRINT IN COLOURS ON ARCHES 88 PAPER, 1985
Completed for a solo exhibition in the esteemed Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, Vesuvius (F. & S. II.365) is a print from Andy Warhol’s Vesuvius Cycle series (1985). The print features an image of the legendary Mount Vesuvius erupting to create an energetic and dynamic composition. On display in a space typically reserved for the old masters and classical landscapes, Warhol reworks the traditional, romanticised Neapolitan imagery of Vesuvius and transforms it into a Pop Art icon.
Produced towards the end of his career, Vesuvius (F. & S. II.365) is characteristic of Warhol’s later prints that extend beyond the established screen printing method and mark a return to hand painting. Warhol applies expressionist brushwork over a flat, screen printed base, using different colours for each print to unfailingly give the impression that the image has just been painted.
Using colour fields of bright red, contrasted against black and multicoloured lines to show the eruption, Warhol creates a powerful image that combines his two most renowned themes: the legacy of art history and the enduring presence of death. Reconsidering the grave display of death in his powerful images of electric chairs, car crashes, and suicides in the early 1960s, Vesuvius (F. & S. II. 365) embodies this sense of impending doom and destruction in a more vivacious and dramatic style. By using an image from the past to create a revitalised Pop Art icon of the present, this print can also be seen in the context of Warhol’s appropriations of art historical subjects like his Mona Lisa (1963) works and Details Of Renaissance Paintings series (1984).
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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.
