Triple Elvis (Primary Title)
Andy Warhol, American, 1928 - 1987 (Artist)
“In my art work, hand painting would take much too long and anyway that’s not the age we’re living in. Mechanical means are today . . . Silkscreen work is as honest a method as any, including hand painting.” —Andy Warhol
Warhol based this macho signer-turned-gunslinger portrait of Elvis Presley on a publicity photograph for the 1960 western Flaming Star. This public persona, as carefully packaged as Campbell’s Soup, was ideally suited to Warhol’s aims and to his focus on surface appearance rather than psychological interpretation. Warhol’s repetition of identical images and his silkscreen technique often allude to the pervasiveness of consumer culture. The overlapping multiple figures here also suggest individual film frames and cinematic motion, while the work’s metallic background evokes Hollywood’s silver screen.
Pop/Popism, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, November 1, 2014 – March 1, 2015
Warhol Live! (A reprise of the 2008-2009 exhibition), Frist Center for the Arts, Nashville, TN, June 24 – September 11, 2011
Warhol Live!, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, September 25, 2008 – January 18, 2009; M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, February 14 – May 17, 2009; Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, June 10 – September 27, 2009
Look Here: Dazzle, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, November 2, 2005 – January 29, 2006
Pop Art: US/UK Connections, 1956-1966, Menil Collection, Houston, TX, January 26 - May 13, 2001
Regarding Beauty: Perspectives on Art since 1950, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, October 7 1999 – January 18, 2000
Andy Warhol: Early Portraits, Focus Gallery, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, March 26 – September 25, 1994
Power: Its Myth and Mores in American Art, 1961-1991, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, September 5 – November 3, 1991; Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH, January 18 – March 21, 1992; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, May 11 – July 12, 1992
Andy Warhol's Celebrities, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, September 11, 1990 – January 6, 1991
Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, February 1 – May 2, 1989; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, May 31 – August 13, 1989; The Hayward Gallery, London, September 7 – November 5, 1989; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, West Germany, November 20, 1989 – February 11, 1990; Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy, March 8 – May 27, 1990; Musee national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, June 19 – September 10, 1990
Made in USA: An Americanization in Modern Art, the 50s & 60s, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkley, CA, April 4 – June 21, 1987; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, July 25 – September 6, 1987; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, October 7 – December 6, 1987
American Figure Painting, 1950-1980, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, October 17 – December 30, 1980
Andy Warhol, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA, May 12 – June 21, 1970; Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicgao, IL, July 4 – September 6, 1970; Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, October 9 – November 22, 1970; Musee de l'arte Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, December 10, 1970 – January 23, 1971; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, April 26 – June 6, 1971
[1] Lot #42, May 16, 1980. See Auction catalogue. Contemporary Art (New York: Christie Manson & Woods, 1980).
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