Lot number 182 - Auction 154
BLATT 3 AUS 'LADIES & GENTLEMEN' (1975)

ANDY WARHOL 1928 Pittsburgh - 1987 New York SHEET 3 FROM 'LADIES & GENTLEMEN' (1975) Colour silkscreen on heavy paper, printed by Alexander Heinrici, New York, published by Luciano Anselmino, Milan, Italy. F 117,5 x 80,5 cm. Sheet size 110 x 72 cm. Verso: signed 'Andy Warhol', num. '101/125' and inscr. 'CAWE'. Minimal browning at the edges, slight waviness, minimal browning on the reverse. Framed behind glass. Literature: Feldmann/Schellmann II.130. Provenance: Private collection Lower Rhine. For his ten-part silkscreen series 'Ladies and Gentlemen' (1975), Warhol photographed a group of transgender people, inspired by the emerging liberal mindset of the 1970s in the United States, where homosexual and drag communities began to express their sexuality and gender identity more openly. The series, which was created at the suggestion of his art dealer Luciano Anselmino, features drag queens from The Gilded Grape in Greenwich Village and reflects Warhol's fascination with the glamorous, exhibitionist self-expression of this community. In his typical working method, Warhol converted Polaroid photos into silkscreen prints, with the portraits additionally emphasising the play with gender roles through characteristic colour accents. At the same time, the portraits resemble Warhol's commissioned works of prominent personalities in composition and structure and are among the artist's most provocative works.